Family's Final Divergence
by GBTA-Geek
Summary: An encrypted external hard-drive brings complications to a murder case, when the family of an agent is involved secrets and lies are exposed, the life of one agent hangs in the balance as a dangerous connection is finally exposed and PapaGibbs comes to the fore for the least expecting member of the team. Will update weekly. First fanfiction please be kind...
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 1 - Prologue**

The man bent down to pick up his bags out of the boot of his beloved silver Porsche, as he did he heard very close footsteps, of at least two and possibly more people, approaching him from behind. The man turned just in time to duck out of the way of a fist that would have easily mashed into his face, instinctively sending out a punch of his own, hitting the assailant firmly in the abdominal area.

The fight that ensued didn't last very long , five against one is never very good odds, however for the man held his own and as he threw his punches a glittering federal badge could be seen clipped to his belt strap.

Finally one of the assailants managed to get the upper hand using a metal bar that he smashed against the man's right leg, you could hear the crack of the bone from the force of the blow, and the man himself let out a stifled gasp and barely managed to stay on his feet. He was not so lucky with the second blow that hit him across the upper back sending him sprawling towards the ground, and hitting his head on the edge of his car as he went down.

As he drifted into unconsciousness he felt himself being lifted up, his final thoughts were of Gibbs and his teammates.


	2. Chapter 2 Admiral McGee

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 2 Admiral McGee**

Tim McGee stepped out of the back elevator without looking up from the information he was studying and made his way into the bullpen and Gibbs desk "Sorry boss, that took longer than I -"

"McGee, with me!" Gibbs voice cut off whatever Tim was about to tell him as he made his way from the bullpen and up the stairs.

Startled McGee looked up and then quickly dumped the information and laptop he was holding, on his desk before striding quickly to catch up with the team-leader.

"Boss ?" McGee questioned as he finally caught up at the top of the stairs

"Vance needs to see us" McGee couldn't help but noticed the underlying hint of anger in the other agents voice, causing him to become anxious.

**- NCIS - **

"What do you want Leon, we're busy!" Bulldozing his way into the Director Office Gibbs let his full frustration out, before realising the Director was not alone; standing there in plain sight was Secretary Jarvis, with a commander and a lieutenant.

"Gentleman, let me do the introductions, this is Special agent Gibbs and Timothy McGee, Gibbs this is Commander Jacobs and Lieutenant Warner from the Pentagon, who I believe you already know McGee" Vance stated calmly ignoring Gibbs brashness, McGee just nodded to indicate that he heard him as, he and Gibbs shook hand and greeting with the other men in the room

"Oh and behind you is Admiral McGee"

Gibbs and McGee turned as one, but whilst Gibbs extended his hand and greeted the Admiral, McGee made no effort to move or acknowledge the man; this didn't go unnoticed by the others in the room.

"Now," continued the Director "I appreciate your in the middle of a case Agent Gibbs, but this is important, shall we gentlemen" as he indicated across to the conference table. As they seated Gibbs noticed how McGee moved to the opposite end of the table in comparison to where the Admiral went and moved to sit next to him, noticing too that he wasn't the only one as the director sat on the opposite side of the younger agent and shot a concerned glance to Gibbs, to which he answered with a shrug.

The only person who didn't sit down started talking "Let me explain the situation Agent Gibbs, Admiral McGee's fleet has been of exercises in the Pacific, and during a routine delivery this was found" Secretary Jarvis explained as he leaned over placed an external hard-drive in front of McGee.

When both agents looked at him questioningly he continued "it's your standard external hard-drive, with the exception that it's heavily encrypted"

"How heavily?" McGee spoke for the first time since the announcement of Admiral McGee's presence; his voice was almost a whisper, whilst he was looking at Commander Jacobs and Lieutenant Warner knowing that they were good at this sort of thing.

"Well it's beaten us" the Commander replied with a knowing smile sliding across his face.

"_**Apparently**_ your better" the voice of the Admiral cut in, his tone was full of scepticism and anger

"Oh there's no doubt Agent McGee is better" the Commander stated looking between the Admiral and the young agent, a puzzled look crossing his face as he looked at his young friend, McGee, he'd gotten to know over the last five/six years since he arrived at the Pentagon, he seem out of sorts and the Admiral certainly wasn't helping with the constant staring that the young agent was so obviously trying to ignore.

"I sorry to have to ask this McGee..." the Director started

"He follows orders like everyone else, don't ask him tell him!" The Admiral barked

The glare he received from Gibbs and The Director didn't stop him, "You'll do this **boy**! Or you'll..."

"Enough! Admiral this is a civilian operation things are done differently here!" Secretary Jarvis cut in

Whilst Jarvis was talking, Agent McGee looked at his Father for the first time, he knew what his father was saying he didn't need to hear the words, his hand slipped to his belt, but as his fingers wrapped around his badge he felt hands on his arms, as at the same time Gibbs and the Director moved to stop him "Don't even think it McGee" Gibbs whispered quietly whilst Vance leaned over and in a very firm but low voice stated "Not excepting Agent McGee"

McGee looked from Gibbs to the Director and back again, there was mixed emotions rolling through his very readable eyes, Gibbs read the emotions of sadness, fear and defeat flashing through in seconds but there was something else underlying all of it, pain.

"I'm sorry, but this needs to be done Agent McGee" Secretary Jarvis continued "now I understand about the case Agent Gibbs and for that reason the Commander is staying here to help you and the rest of your team out. Agent McGee, we need you to work on this and this only as a priority right now"

McGee looked from Gibbs to Secretary Jarvis, his voice filled with defeat and almost too low to be heard "understood sir"

"Gentlemen, I'd like a moment with the boy" the Admiral stated authoritatively, Gibbs was still watching McGee and saw the sudden panic and fear that crossed his face.

Gibbs stood-up indicating for McGee to follow "Sorry Admiral not happening, McGee's got work to do, beside Dr Mallards expecting us." Gibbs saw the Director's own face expressions change briefly from questioning to understanding to not showing anything "I would have thought you would of had McGee's clearance checked before he went out in the field today Agent Gibbs" he said in demolishment, as he played along and giving the go ahead to have Dr Mallard check the young agent over.

Gibbs smirked slight as he registered the agreement "Sorry Director, slipped my mind"

"Very well this meetings over, take agent McGee to see Dr Mallard now and then he can get to working on the hard-drive" giving clearance for the two agents to leave the room before anymore could be said whilst gathering up the hard-drive and passing it to Gibbs. McGee was too lost in his own thoughts, to pick up on what was going on, so Gibbs took charge and stirred him out of the office and into the elevator to take him down to autopsy.

**- NCIS - **

As Gibbs led Tim down to autopsy, he noticed the how hard his young agent was trying to hold it together and this worried him still further.

As the doors open Dr Mallard, known as Ducky to all his friends, turned "Your too early Jethro...oh my...Timothy are you alright?"

Noticing the concern of on Gibbs face, Ducky quickly put down what he was doing, indicating to Palmer to take-over and made his way over to the pair as Gibbs took a moment to explain

"Slight altercation, Ducky"

"What kind of altercation, Jethro?"

"The Admiral kind" Tim's voiced, almost in a whisper

"Admiral McGee" Jethro confirmed as Ducky looked confused

Taking hold of Tim's wrist Ducky started checking his pulse "your father?"

Tim gave a rather bewildered look at Gibbs's as the last parts of the conversation in the Directors office finally sunk-in "Hey, wait a minute...What check-up?"

Gibbs just smirked, as Ducky informed them "Well your pulse is slightly elevated, possibly due to the stress, why don't you sit down and I'll make us a nice cup of Earl Grey, my dear boy and then we can talk"

Gibbs waited until Tim sat down before he moved over to where Ducky was busying himself making the tea "What's going on Jethro?"

"Wish I knew, Ducky...wish I knew" Gibbs sighed


	3. Chapter 3 Pinky, Perky and Billy Goat

_Thank you to everyone for the kind and positive messages I received, I must admit I was a tad nervous about posting, but you have given me so much encouragement it has spurred me on._

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 3 Pinky, Perky and Billy Goat**

"I don't like it" Tony DiNozzo stated, as he got up to make his way over to his other partner's desk. He had been watching a Commander and a Lieutenant, chatting on the balcony area just above the bullpen after seeing them come out of the Directors office, the Commander looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't put his finger on why.

"Don't like what Tony" Ziva sighed as she lookup from the paper work she had been try and failing to study since Gibbs and McGee had gone into the Directors office. McGee rarely got summon upstairs, after all, he rarely got into trouble, unlike other agents, so that meant this was something important. DiNozzo was now leaning over her desk with his back to the balcony, so he didn't see the Director, Secretary Jarvis and the Admiral step out from the Director's office and start heading down the stair - to be followed by the Commander and Lieutenant.

"The meetings obviously finished so where's McGee, I mean I understand the Boss staying behind..."

"They'll be back momentarily Agent DiNozzo" Vance stated from his position now directly behind Tony. "In the meantime, this is Commander Jacobs; he's going to be helping out"

Tony had turn round whilst the Director was speaking, and saw the Commander offering his hand in formal greeting, when it clicked "You're the guy from the Pentagon" accepting the offered hand.

"Guilty as charged" the Commander smiled as he then offered his hand to Ziva, as she stood up.

"Wait, helping with..." Ziva began but was interrupted by a light coughing noise from behind the Director, who rolled his eyes and stated "and this is Admiral McGee"

Both agents took the hint instantly that something was wrong, but ensured that their faces remain passive as the formal introductions were made. "He's going to be hanging out here for a while" the director hoped that DiNozzo and David took the hint, that he really didn't like the idea.

"In the meantime I have to go see Dr Mallard"

**- NCIS -**

Ducky settled in the chair next to Tim, he was now as worried as Gibbs, as the young agent had very much withdrawn into himself, his head bowed down resting in his hands, with his elbow embedding themselves into his knees.

"Tim" he said gently

Tim looked up "Sorry..." his voice was soft, but he sat up and looked towards Ducky and Gibbs who was leaning against the table just behind Ducky "guess you want to talk now..."

_- Trust Tim to state the blindingly obvious_ - thought Gibbs as he smiled behind his cup of coffee, "Well, yeah Tim, would kind-a help"

At that moment the doors to autopsy opened with Vance striding through "as much as I would like to discuss this, we need to get to work on that hard-drive" his tone was sympathetic with a hint of ordering

"Leon!..." Gibbs started, they had been so close

"The Admiral has decided to stay here until he gets answers, Gibbs" Vance stated as he turned his attention to the older agent, he really didn't want to get into a pissing match at this point, but he hated the idea of having the Admiral underfoot even more, placing the external hard-drive down on the table in front of him.

For his part Tim was just putting his cup back on the same table when the Director gave the news, his head shot up to look at the Director and the cup missed the table smashing into pieces as it hit the floor

"Oh god! Ducky I'm sorry" mortified Tim was immediately on his knees trying to clear up the mess

"Timothy, my lad, it just a cup," Ducky replied softly, as he knelt down with some towelling to help the young agent at the same time as looking with concern at the Director and Gibbs, "nothing to worry, about no harm done"

Tim reach for his phone, which he normally had on this belt, only to realise it was still on his desk "Sarah, I need to call Sarah" panic was setting in and he lost all care about who was watching.

"Agent McGee, we don't..." A glare from Gibbs put a stop to what the Director was about to say

"Easy, Tim, use the phone on the desk" Gibbs had moved forward and put a comforting hand on the elbow of the still kneeling agent helping him up. Tim reached for the phone and started dialling without lifting the receiver, so it went automatically to speaker phone. After a couple of rings there was an answer

_"Hello"_

"Sarah, it's me, where are you?" Tim couldn't quite hide the concern from his voice

_"Oh hi Tim, in my dorm room about to head out to class, why what's wrong?"_

"Sarah you need to get out the box I put in the back of the wardrobe, grab a couple of changes of clothes and get out of DC"

_"What! Don't be silly Tim that's only to be used if..."_

"He's here Sarah, which mean he's also here" Tim stated firmly cutting her off

_"Oh, but, I'm not a kid anymore..."_

"I know Sarah, just do what was agreed, please, I don't want him anywhere near you, go to Billy Goats to be on the safe side, and stay there until you hear from me"

_"What about you?"_

"I can handle it, but just to be safe only use speed-dials 3, 4, 5 to get messages to me"

_"Why can't I use 1 and 2?"_

"You can't use 2 because Abby's not here, she's at a conference with Jimmy and I don't want to worry her"

_"And 1?"_

"No don't call or text me directly, the others can pass messages"

_"Oh okay"_

"Tell Billy Goat that Perky will be alright and needs not to worry about Pinky, Oh and Sarah until this is over your Sasha Mitchell"

_"Okay, Pinky will do as she's told, but only to keep Perky and Billy Goat Happy"_ The tone of her voice made it perfectly clear she wasn't happy about it and with that the call ended. Tim let out a small sigh of relief, gathered up the external hard-drive and walked out of Autopsy, leaving behind three very confused older men.

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_Sorry could not resist adding in another twist – do not worry, all will be explained in due course I promise_


	4. Chapter 4 Getting on with Work

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 4 Getting on with Work**

By the time the Gibbs and Vance made it back up to the office, Tim and the Commander were deep in conversation. Vance made his way over to them whilst Gibbs moved towards DiNozzo who was watching from his desk.

"They're just handing-over boss" he confirmed with a worried expression on his face, Gibbs nodded as he watch his youngest agent, _~ One way Tim now's how to back to norm is to get working ~_ Gibbs thought. As he continued to watch he saw how every now and then Tim would make a quick glance towards the Admiral as if he was making sure he knew were the man was, without the Admiral noticing.

"DiNozzo, my office - David stay here" the subtle nod of the head towards McGee sending a message all of its own to the former Mossad Officer _[with McGee]_, David smiled an acknowledgement and a glance Gibbs received from Vance also told him that the Director had no plans to go anywhere till he was back, _~ well he always has had a soft spot for the kid ~_ satisfied he made his way to the elevator where Tony was now waiting.

Once inside Tony waited for the elevator to engage and Gibbs to flipped the switch bring the elevator to a holt before he asked, "Boss?", when Gibbs didn't respond straight way, he started to worry "Boss, Sarah's not..."

"No Tony, Sarah's fine"

"Then - Probie?"

"Is holding it together by a shoestring...barely" Gibbs lent heavily back against the side of the elevator. "What do you know about Tim's family?" Gibbs asked

Tony was stunned by the question, as he thought about though, he realised that he knew very little "Not much boss Probie tends not to talk about family; he's kind-a private that way, we only found out about his sister and Penny because of the cases they were involved in. What's going on boss?"

"I need you to look into the McGee's, but discreetly, the Admirals going to be hanging around and I get the feeling McGee won't talk while he's present"

"Boss?"

"McGee tried quit in the meeting this morning DiNozzo, so whatever the matter is, he feel's strong enough about it, to throw his career away" Gibbs rammed the point home to his Senior Field Agent

Tony gulped, the very idea of his Probie leaving was insane "Okay boss, looking into the McGee's, got it"

"It's time for us to step-up Tony, he need us, even if he's not asking, let make sure we have his back on this one, no leaving him on his own whilst we're here and no messing around - he doesn't need it"

"Yes boss, err what about Ziva?"

"You tell her, its near lunch time so go out and get us all coffees, tell her that she's going to have to do most the work for the Kennings case too"

Just as Gibbs flipped the switch, he remember the phone call in autopsy "Any messages that you get from a Sasha Mitchell - make sure McGee see them"

Even though he could tell this puzzled Tony, Gibbs didn't explain further. Tony for his part was left confused but feeling protective _~ okay McGee need's us, so it's time to get serious ~_

**- NCIS -**

The morning progressed into the late afternoon with little conversation or progress, Gibbs continued to make sure he knew where his young agent and the Admiral were at all times, he had a feeling that they shouldn't be allowed to be alone together for any length of time. For his part the Admiral stayed mainly by the window making phone-calls and glaring every now and then at Tim, but Tim was now too busy working to notice.

"Boss", Gibbs looked up to see DiNozzo standing in front of him, he gave him the 'yes, what is it?' look.

"Thought I'd pick us up some Pizza's as it seems like we're going to be here a while" DiNozzo carefully tilted his head in the direction of Tim's desk, trying not be too obvious, whilst he place a manila folder on the desk. Gibbs looked over and saw Tim heavily into what he was working on, his lunch untouched from where he had left it that morning when they had arrived back from the crime scene.

"Good idea, DiNozzo" as he quickly wrote something on a small piece of paper, "get some coffees whilst you're at it"

"Commander any particular pizza you like" DiNozzo queried as he looked at the note Gibbs had given him - get McGee his own pizza, the rest of us can share a couple of large ones - and nodded his understanding

"No, just nothing with pineapple" the Commander looked up "do you need a hand?"

"Nope, I got this" Tony replied as he moved back to his desk to get his wallet and Sig, before he headed out.

**- NCIS -**

Tony arrived back and quickly handed out the other pizzas and coffee's before approaching Tim's desk

"There you go Probie" he stated simply as he touched Tim's arm with the pizza box, for his part Tim looked up at him momentarily puzzled before taking the offering of Pizza and coffee.

"Thanks, Tony" he smiled slightly as he placed the coffee down and opened the box, helping himself to a slice.

"I think you need to look at this too" tony said, holding out his phone to the younger agent, again with a puzzled look Tim reached out and took the phone looking at the screen to see a text message from a Sasha Mitchell.

***Pinky has arrived safely at Billy Goat's, who is happy to see her, but not happy that Perky is not here as planned and Perky better have a good explanation as to why he stayed behind***

"Okay, but I think you'd be better off showing that to Gibbs" Tim said handing the phone back, with a knowing smile, suddenly glad that Gibbs had somehow managed to inform Tony to expect a message from a Sasha Mitchell, and that it would be for him, especially since he hadn't had chance with the Admiral always hanging around.

Tony nodded and went over to Gibbs who was waiting with his hand out for the phone. Once he read the message he wrote a note on a piece of paper and handed to Tony, - reply that Silverback and the team are watching over Perky and that Billy Goat and Pinky don't need to worry - Tony acknowledge the note, with a slight nod. Although he was confused with all the code names he started typing the reply as he made his way back to his desk.

_~ So Tim was supposed to go to ~ _Gibbs realised as he thought back to the conversation he'd overheard earlier in Autopsy.

**- NCIS -**

It was a couple of hours later when the Commander had a breakthrough on the laptop, that had been pulled from the dead officers apartment, that Tim had been working on before the morning's interruptions.

"Oh, crap" it was a simple statement but it got everyone's attention - well apart from Tim's, who was again buried in deep concentration.

"What?" Gibbs asked

"Well I've been going through the hard-drive, nothing unusual stuck out until I found this" the commander replied pointing at his screen

"Put it up on the Plasma" Gibbs stated, forgetting that the Commander probably didn't know how, after seeing the puzzled look Ziva moved over to help the Commander

"Here let me" Ziva smiled and within moments the image of what the Commander was looking at on his screen was on the plasma for all to see.

"What is it?" Gibbs asked slightly agitated, Tim would normally start explaining things the moment they were up on the screen

"Oh - from what I can tell it's some sort of journal, but it's encrypted"

"Well un-encrypted then" Gibbs huffed; when the Commander hesitated he gained himself a Gibbs glare

"I can't" he stated, know he was receiving the 'why in hell not' look on top of the glare "it's, err, it's the same encryption type as what's on the hard-drive, Agent McGee's working on" the Commander rushed to explain.

"Great, just great" Gibbs, sounded thoroughly annoyed at the answer he was given, after-all this had been the first breakthrough they had had since the 6am call out.

"Okay, DiNozzo, David, Commander, go home, we'll start a fresh in the morning"

"Err, what about Probie boss?"

"I'll take care of McGee, DiNozzo"

An hour after Tony and the others left the Admiral seem to get bored and left for the evening, Gibbs waited half an hour to be certain and then approached his youngest agent who was still working hard.

"McGee" Gibbs said softly as he sat on the corn of Tim's desk "Hey! McGee!"

Startled Tim looked up "Sorry Boss"

"Home time" Gibbs stated simply

"In a moment boss, think I've nearly got it"

"Okay well don't stay too late, I'll see you in the morning" Gibbs ruffles the young agents hair, gaining a smile from the young man, as he got up to leave. McGee in-turn went back to the screen becoming completely engrossed in what he was working on and completely forgetting the time in the process.


	5. Chapter 5 Nathan

Hi - firstly I must apologise for not updating last week, unfortunately I was not at all well so was unable to. Please enjoy this new chapter

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 5 Nathan**

Next morning Gibbs arrived to be greeted by one of the night security team, as he was checking the sign-in/out listing

"Morning Watson"

"Agent Gibbs"

"So tell me what time did McGee leave last night?"

"He didn't"

"What?!"

"He fell asleep at his desk, around half an hour ago - we tried to talk him into going home but he wouldn't budge, said something about the sooner he finishes what he's working on, the sooner things could get back to normal"

"Great, just great" Gibbs huffed, as he stalked off to the elevator

**- NCIS -**

The arrival of the elevator didn't stir the young agent asleep at his desk. Shaking his head as he looked McGee over, it was obvious that he had been working hard on decrypting the hard-drive all night, as one of the programs McGee used was still running. Deciding to discuss his agent's lack of following orders for a later date, Gibbs gently reached out and took hold of his shoulder giving it a gentle shake.

"Huh" Tim grunted as he awoke

"Hey" Gibbs said lightly

"Boss... What...What time is it?" McGee looked puzzled obviously not quite awake

"Morning" Gibbs smirked "Go freshened up, I'll grab us some coffees and you can update me with how it's all going.

"Urm...yeah okay" Tim responded as he got up and open the larger draw of his desk, pulling out his overnight items, that he like the rest of the kept for emergency before making his way to the bathroom.

Gibbs gently shook his head as he watch the younger agent before he head to the break-room. Whilst waiting for the kettle to boil he sent a text to DiNozzo and Ziva to inform them about McGee and that one of them needed to bring breakfast, letting them argue it out amongst themselves, satisfied he turned his attention back to making the coffee.

As Gibbs returned to the empty bullpen, he heard a thud followed by a muffled groan and "What the..." the startled questioning sentence was closed off by the sound of a door closing, however Gibbs had recognised the voice, immediately put down the coffees on the nearest desk, he went in search of his young agent.

**- NCIS -**

As Gibbs approached the gent's bathroom he heard load muffled voices, opening the door he could see McGee leaning backwards over the sink holding the lower left side of his face in his hand, with the Admiral and a Commander he didn't know yelling at the young agent.

"Hey!" Gibbs shouted to make his presence realised "What the hell's going on here!"

The Admiral calmly turned to face Gibbs "The boy obviously doesn't seem to understand the importance of getting that hard-drive decrypted! Playing, around in here, instead!"

Gibbs glared at the Admiral, as he made his way past and took hold of McGee's hand gently moving it way to reveal a cut lip and a red mark on his left check that was swelling up fast.

"And this is your idea of motivation is it, Admiral?" Gibbs snap

"Not the Admiral's fault, if Tim-Tim doesn't look were he's going and walks into a door" The unnamed Commander sneered.

"It...it...was...was an accident, boss" Tim stuttered out, glaring at the Commander. Gibbs looked at McGee and could see the uncertainty in his eyes, he didn't like the way the Commander seemed to know his young agent and could tell the young man was trying his best to cover up whatever really happened. He also didn't like the idea that his youngest agent seemed so nervous.

Gibbs turned round to the Admiral "Get out and take that idiot with you!"

"Hey you can't talk..." The Commander started to shout

"It's alright, son" the Admiral soothed "We just wait outside, we will discuss this later with the Director" The Admiral said pointedly at Gibb, with a sly smile on his face. Gibbs just grunted and turned his attention back to McGee.

"Let's get you cleaned up" he said softly as he heard the door close, grabbing some of the paper hand towels he wetted them and press them against McGee cut lip

McGee flinch back "It's...alright boss...I ...can manage"

"Sure you can, but that's not the point is it, you going to tell me what happened?" Gibbs was trying his best to calm down, after all he wasn't angry with his young agent, it was the situation that had him wound up and the fact that he'd done exactly what he had told DiNozzo they weren't going to do and left McGee on his own, even if it wasn't intentional.

"It... was... an accident, boss" Tim said defensively

"Sure" Gibbs was completely unconvinced, so he decided to change the subject "You never mentioned you had a brother"

"He'...He's not my brother, he's my cousin, Nathan...the son the Admiral always wanted" Tim replied, Gibbs noticed the underlying bitterness and decided to let the matter drop for now.

**- NCIS -**

A short time later Gibbs was walking McGee back to the bullpen, they were just rounding Tony's desk when the elevator dinged, opening to reveal Tony.

"What the hell Probie?" DiNozzo said incredulously as he quickly made his way over to him, dropping his backpack and the paper bag he was holding onto Ziva's desk

Gibbs let DiNozzo know, with a single look, not say anymore and then handed Tim's arm, which he had been holding to steady the young man, over to DiNozzo, pointing to Tim's desk to get the other agent to get Tim into his chair.

Gibbs took hold of the early deposited coffees and moved back over to McGee's desk as Tony knelt by him, silently questioning what was going on; Gibbs just shook his head and nodded to Tony to get back to work. Understanding Tony got up and walked back to Ziva's desk collecting what he had dropped moments before. Turning back to Gibbs he hand over the paper bag, Gibbs opened it to see McGee's favourite breakfast snack that he had when they made early starts, smiling his thanks to DiNozzo, Gibbs then turned and gave it to McGee before making his way back to his own desk.

Ziva arrived; a short time later with fresh cartons of orange juice for everyone and Commander Jacobs was just a couple of strides behind as he had come up the stairs. They both stopped in dismay as they took in the scene before them. Tony just shook his head to indicate that he didn't know what happened and not to ask.

Commander Jacobs took the hint and went to his desk, but Ziva moved slowly to each desk handing out the cartons of fruit juice, before stopping in front of McGee's desk and gently placing her hand under his chin, turning it way from the screen he was again studying to get a better look, mattering a curse in Hebrew as she saw the full depth of the injury along with the pain in McGee's eyes

"Who?" she demanded quietly as Gibbs started to rise from his chair

Tim flicked his eyes to and back from window before almost whispering "It was an accident" to which Ziva gave McGee an 'I know better than that' look just as Gibbs appeared next to her.

"Don't you have work to do?" Gibbs stated, making it clear that it wasn't the time place for this discussion.

"Yes, Gibbs"

Gibbs turned his attention to McGee "When Ducky gets in your going to get that looked at" he said in a tone that would receive no argument from McGee.

"Err, Agent McGee, what's this running on my computer" Commander Jacobs questioned

"Oh, yeah forgot about that" Tim said, as he got up and went over to the desk where the Commander was working

"Last night as I broke each new level of encryption on that hard-drive, I used the same programs I'd written to run against the document you found yesterday"

"But that's not..." the commander started to interrupt

"No, that's a translation program, your document only had three levels of encryption, but that journal's written in multiple languages so hence the translation program" McGee finished off, by now the whole team was listening, along with Admiral McGee and Nathan, who had moved closer

"You broke three levels of encryption last night?!" the shock in Gibbs voice was apparent

"Err, more like four, on the hard-drive, just started on the fifth when I fell asleep" McGee said sheepishly, a slight blush creeping over his features

"You worked all night?" The Admiral muttered in disbelief

"Wouldn't be the first time and I doubt it all be the last, some of us don't just play at our jobs" Tim defiantly stated with a hint of anger, looking pointedly at his cousin and the Admiral

Tony tactfully changed the subject back to the original discussion before the Admiral's comment, throwing in a complement to McGee, but helping him drive his point across to the Admiral at the same time "So you're telling us, that in one night you've got further on this case, than the rest of us put together"

"Impressive as ever, McGee" Ziva ,who had yet to move back to her desk by this point, commented smiling, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, still not believing all the dead-ends that she had come up against the day before.

"It's not like either is finished and the journal might not, tell us much anyway" McGee shrugged, blushing again

"I would have to disagree with you on that" said the Commander as he looked at the screen in front of him, the group finally noticed that Ducky and Vance where in the bullpen with them listening to the exchange, the doctor was looking at Tim with concern whilst the Director seemed to be having difficulty keeping a neutral expression.


	6. Chapter 6 Confrontation

Thank you all again for the positive reviews - the story is still very much a work in progress but your comments are very encouraging when I get stuck

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 6 Confrontation**

With the arrival of Ducky and the Director, McGee went down to Autopsy with Dr Mallard, whilst the remainder of the group started looking at the pages of journal trying to make sense of the lists and tables that had so far been translated, Gibbs and the Director broke off to talk, moving off to the staircase to go up to his office.

"Director, a word" the Admiral requested

"Not now Admiral" Vance said dismissively as he took the stairs two at time, he had already decided he wanted some answers about the Admiral and his young agent's relationship before he had seen McGee this morning, now it was at the top of his list.

Entering his office Vance turned to Gibbs, waiting for an answer to the unspoken question, but the raised eyebrow and expression on his face could easily be read as 'What the hell'. Gibbs took the opportunity to explained the events from the moment he arrived that morning until now, just as he was just explaining about the altercation in the gent's bathroom, and his belief that it was not an accident as McGee was claiming, Ducky arrived

"An accident, it was not" Ducky stated simply "if he had walked into the door accidently as claimed I doubt very much it would have given him a hairline fracture of his cheekbone"

"It's fractured?" Gibbs said with disbelief

"Only a hairline Jethro, but still it's going to be quite painful for a while, unfortunately it will just have to heal in its own time"

"So now what" Vance asked as he looked between Ducky and Gibbs

"Now we try and control this situation more than we have already, McGee is not to go anywhere alone whilst those idiots are here" Gibbs growled "Then tonight we take the team back to mine and talk"

"Really Jethro I'm not sure Timothy will talk, he seems very determined not to talk about any of this - whatever this is"

"Well that's going to have to change Ducky, we need to know so we can help properly"

"I couldn't agree more but I expect you won't get much out of Agent McGee, he seems to be running on automatic pilot, having almost closed down completely, ever since I announced the Admiral was staying" Vance commented

"Well, the young lads obviously just trying to keep it together, not just because of the case, it's almost like he needs to show them that he's stronger than they give him credit for"

"Because he is Ducky - who knows how long he's had to put up with this sort of thing" Gibbs sighed, thinking back, the little information that they had about the McGee family, it never gave him any idea that there was something wrong - and something was most definitely wrong with the dynamics he'd been witnessing.

"Yes, well I think we have our answer to the question of who the other 'he' is from yesterday's phone call to Sarah, it's almost like Timothy and whoever Billy Goat is knew something may happen and had a plan in place to get her away, for whatever reason"

That comment reminded Gibbs of the text message received by Tony and he informed Vance and Ducky of the contents

"So in other words Agent McGee, should have gone with Sarah, do we have any idea when this 'plan' as Ducky calls it was set up"

"No" Gibbs sighed in frustration "Right now we have more questions than answers"

"Then I suggest we carry on with the case and the decryption, I'll go to MTAC get what information I can on the Admiral and the Commander - plus see if the security camera's picked up anything we can use"

"Leon it happened in the Gents, you're not telling me..." receiving a raised eyebrow from Vance, Gibbs realised that that was indeed exactly what Vance was telling him.

All three of them had just stepped out onto the balcony when they heard the distinct voice of McGee shouting in uncontrolled rage at someone unknown "You keep your dirty hands off my sister!"

**- NCIS -**

At the time Ducky arrived in the director's office, Tony, Ziva and Commander Jacobs where discussing a listing on the main plasma in the middle of the bullpen

"This list looks like a lot of gibberish" Tony stated just as McGee joined them

"Well their ship codes" Commander Jacobs responded pointing at the first column

"They're abbreviations" Tim pointed out ingenuously as he started processing the information on the screen, when he received puzzled looks from Tony and Ziva he explained further.

"Well that looks like abbreviated ranks, that might be initials -" he pointed to the second column and third columns in turn " - though that's just a guess, not sure about the last column though, and the numbers in the fourth could mean anything - oh maybe their contact numbers"

"I think your right" Jacobs agreed

"Yes, but where does that get us, who are these people? What's their link to Kennings, other than the obvious?" Ziva questioned

Whilst this conversation had been going on none of the group noticed that the Admiral had made his way out to the stairwell to place a phone call, leaving Nathan to sidle up behind the group and listen in.

"Well why don't we three try and figure out who they are first, I mean if Probie is right - which he properly is - that shouldn't be too difficult, then we can work out the connection, besides Probie need's to get back to the hard-drive" Tony said to the other three, giving Ziva a look to know that it would just be her and Jacobs working on that.

Tim was just about to say something opening his mouth and then closing it again dismissing the thought he just had, "Oh, do go on Tim-Tim, impress us all over again" the mockery coming from Nathan had the group turning away from the plasma as one, all information on the screen instantly forgotten.

"Why don't you just grow-up Nathan?"

Tony noticed that Tim's anger was boiling closer to the surface than he had seen before, gently he placed a restraining hand on Tim arm "Easy, buddy, let's just get-on yeah?"

"I would suggest you take a walk" Ziva stated firmly as she stepped sideways so she was now halfway in front of Tim

Nathan's attention was completely on McGee "hmm, well that's an idea, maybe I'll go visit Sarah at University, whilst I'm visiting, after all she was always easy"

That did it, McGee's anger broke as he easily side stepped Ziva and swung out his fist, it was all Tony and Jacobs could do to stop him "You leave Sarah the hell alone!"" McGee shouted

"Oh come on Tim-Tim, it's not my fault, she likes parties for two" Nathan continued to mock, as Tim fought against the restraining arms

"You keep your dirty hands off my sister!" McGee's voice was rising, higher and the surrounding bullpen went quiet in shock, as to what they were witnessing, mild-mannered McGee in full fury.

It was at this point that the Admiral re-appeared, and having only heard the last part of the conversation he strode up to the group, slapping Tim hard across the left side of this face, causing him to let out a soft put pain-filled gasp as the cut on his lip split open again "You don't ever talk to a commanding officer like that _**Boy**_!"

"Hey!" Gibbs came flying into the bullpen forcing his way in between the Tim and Admiral, just as he was about to lash out again, putting them nose to nose.

"That's quite enough Admiral" Vance's firm voice cut in before Gibbs might say something they may all regret, as he too joined the group "I think you should leave before we have you charged with assaulting a Federal Agent!"

"He's no Federal Agent and I can discipline the _**Boy**_ anyway I choose, besides we are leaving - for now - got a meeting at the Pentagon" the Admiral stated with authority dismissing the idea of being charged as if it were a joke, whilst making himself sound important, turning on his heels striding off to the elevator. Leaving behind a stunned group as to what had just taken place.

With all the team's backs to him and the grip that had stopped him from hitting Nathan completely slackened by the shock of the Admiral actions, Tim managed to quietly slip away from the bullpen. His eyes glistening from the tears he was desperately trying to stop, as he push his way through the doors that lead to the back stairwell. He left them to slam back heavily in place, as he ran down the stairwell no longer caring about what anyone may think if they saw him, now that he was away from the team.

It was only when the rest of the group heard the distinctive noise of the back doors crashing back together that they realised McGee was no longer with them

"Damn it" Gibbs cursed as he went running after his young agent, followed by Tony and Ziva.

**- NCIS -**

Half an hour of fruitless searching finally had Gibbs locating Tim sitting under the bench of Abby's inner lab. They'd missed seeing that the door to the inner lab wasn't latched fully the first time of passing due to the fact that there were no lights on in the lab. The only natural light was coming in from the high half moon windows and as it wasn't a particularly sunny day, making the lab even less welcoming.

Signalling his other two agents to stay back in the main lab, Gibbs knelt down holding on to the bench, so he was in front of his young agent, who it seemed was oblivious to his presence. His knees drawn up to his chest, his arms wrapped round them locking them in place and his head buried down on top of them. Anybody else seeing this would probably have thought him to be asleep, but Gibbs could see the tension in the grip of the arms and uncontrolled shaking from the silent crying taking place.

"Oh, Tim" he said softly before manoeuvring himself next to the young agent and putting his arm across his back gently pulling him into a hug. Tim flinch and tried to pull back but Gibbs managed to get the upper hand, gently talking to him the whole time trying to give him re-assurance, letting Tim ride out the overwhelming emotions, which Gibbs realised had more behind them than the occurrences that had taken place in the last couple of hours.

As Tim finally quieted, Gibbs suggested they move back upstairs to have a chat somewhere more comfortable, the younger agent didn't resist as Gibbs eased him away from where he had been sitting, or when Gibbs got him up onto his feet and moved him out of the inner lab. As they came into the main lab both Tony and Ziva made to approach, only to stop as Gibbs shot them a warning look, "Conference room, everyone, now" he ordered silently. Nodding their understanding they left to make the arrangements.

Turning his attention back to Tim but keeping his voice soft and movements even so not to startle the young man who was still very much in a world of his own, "Come on Tim, let's get you cleaned up."


	7. Chapter 7 Family History

Again I'd like to thank you all for your reviews - this is a bit of a long chapter, hope you enjoy

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 7 Family History**

Arriving in the conference room to find all but two of the seats occupied Gibbs silently help McGee into the seat, that placed him between the Director and himself, as he did Ducky rose from his seat, coming round to re-examine the bruising on McGee's face, satisfied that the split lip had once again stopped bleeding, he sat back down on the other side of the table in between Ziva and Tony.

"Well this is a turn of events; would anyone like to explain what happened, earlier?" Vance enquired, immediately Tony, Ziva and Commander Jacobs all went to start trying to explain, but they were beaten to it by a very quietly spoken voice

"It was my fault Director, everything always is, I apol..."

"No McGee" Ziva rebuked

"No way, Probie" Tony exclaimed

"Timothy, lad, I do not believe for one moment that you are responsible" Ducky said sympathetically

Having still not looked up Tim was not seeing the concern and disbelief on the other faces "I don't think the Admiral would agree with you Ducky"

"Well as much as we didn't want to get into this right now, I've just had a very interesting discussion with Secretary Jarvis and from what I've heard I'm afraid we need to discuss this Agent McGee, we need to know about your relationship with the Admiral and Commander McGee"

Finally looking up, Tim saw only concern on the Directors face "What you all have to realise is that the Admiral is very quick to anger but until today he's never hit me publically...Oh, scratch that, actually, there was one time, but after he calm's down it's always like it's never happened. Like it's over with and that's that – there's no further discussion on the issue – punishment is usually metred out whilst he's still angry, but mostly he likes shouting – a lot" Tim stated plainly.

"That's all very well Agent McGee, but it wasn't the Admiral that assaulted you in the gent's this morning" Vance quantified, McGee shook his head, the "no sir it wasn't" was barely audible. However this made it easier for Gibbs, who was still feeling guilty about leaving Tim on his own when the incident had occurred, to coax him gently into telling them what they needed to hear about Tim's past "How about you tell us about Nathan."

Looking at Gibbs, understanding registered across Tim's face, they knew he really hadn't wanted to discuss this, but he could tell that Gibbs and the rest of the group weren't about to let go either, however once he started talking it was like the floodgates opened and he wasn't be able to stop

"Err, well it was just after my seventh birthday, while mum was pregnant with Sarah, that Nathan came to live with us, he was ten. His parents had died - some sort of accident."

"I guess that was then that things started to change between me and the Admiral, don't get me wrong, he had always been strict, we were never allowed to call him dad – we always had to address him by his rank. At that time he was a commander like Nathan is now. Things just seem to click between him and Nathan, and that seem to create all sorts of problems for me, it didn't help that the Admiral always took Nathans word as gospel, over everything. I guess it was also facilitated by the fact that we were the completely polar opposites, Nathan was outgoing, confident and able to go on boats without throwing up."

"Mom gave birth to Sarah a couple of months later, and I remember the day she brought her home, we were all in the lounge, Mom suggested that I had my photo taken holding Sarah, but as I approached Nathan tripped me up, but denied doings so, and the Admiral said I was obviously too clumsy to hold her, I tried to protest but he got cross and sent me to our room. A few days later there was a picture of Nathan holding Sarah on the mantel piece, pride of place, I never remember feeling so lost. Nathan did nothing but rub my face in it for days and when I complained I got sent to our room, I received my first belting a short time later. Somewhere along the line the room that I had been made to share with Nathan, became Nathan's as I was banished to the basement**"**

Tim stopped for moment trying to get his breathing back under control; he was looking down at his hands and didn't see the horrified faces of his team mates and colleagues, before they could say anything he started up again.

"Things, just seem to go on like that, Nathan and the Admiral were spending more and more time together. Mom got pregnant again a couple of years later but, Kyle was stillborn, I was about ten so Sarah would have been almost three, I remember the Admiral shouting at me saying it was my fault because of all the stress I caused Mom, with my constant behaviour problems, after that I was only ever referred to as boy."

"Mom didn't deem to really know what to do, but she never went against the Admiral's decisions or what he told me, except this once. It was a few days after the Admiral had had a go at me, that Mom reassured me that it wasn't really my fault. The Admiral had gone out with Nathan on a fishing trip, a couple of the days after Mom had come home from hospital. When Mom realised that I believed what the Admiral had said, so she told me about Louise. I was only three, so Mom said that would be why I didn't remember her being pregnant before, but just like Kyle, Louise was stillborn too. She explained how nature just sometimes worked that way"

"I threw myself even more into my school work as an escape route, having learnt that it was best not to argue back or cry when punishments where metered out, as it only meant worse punishments. By the time I was eleven the Admiral was a Captain, I skipped a couple of grades, thought the Admiral would have been proud, but he just dismissed as if it was nothing. He was more upset by the fact that Nathan and a couple of his friends were held back a year - even heard him arguing with the school principal about it over the phone - so that's when thing got worse still, as there was suddenly no rest bite from Nathan, as we were put in the same class"

"I used to be ambidextrous and had a friend Dave that was like that too, one evening we were out the front of the house chatting after school when we heard a stifled scream, Dave and I ran into the house to find Sarah at the bottom of the stairs crying, because she had hurt her arm, Nathan was half way up the stairs laughing his head off, but when the Admiral came out of his study Nathan said that I had pushed Sarah down the stairs. My friend Dave tried to stick up for me, but the Admiral just ordered him out the house."

"It was only when Sarah spoke up telling him that it was Nathan that he finally listened. I still got punished, because I shouldn't have been outside with Dave, but it wasn't anywhere as bad as it could have been."

"Nathan obviously wasn't happy with the punishment that I received for his little stunt, or the fact that he was in the Admiral's bad books for once, because a few days later at school he and his friends collared me as I was making my way between classes. I was just going past the woodwork room at the time. I remember them dragging me in there and over to one of the workbenches, they forced my right arm onto the work bench and Nathan grabbed the hammer. I don't really remember much of what happen after that, but I do remember waking up in hospital with a broken arm, the warning looks I got from him where enough to make sure I didn't contradict what he told the hospital staff or my parents."

Tim stopped for a moment to calm himself down, the emotions following out, seemed to be overpowering him. Ziva took the opportunity to move round the conference table and placed herself in-between Tim and the Director, sitting on the arm of Tim's chair she carefully draped her arm round Tim's shoulder bringing him into a soft and comforting sideways hug. Tim looked up, offering her a weak smile in thanks before he continued on whilst leaning his head into her shoulder

"When I was fourteen I took the tests and qualified for MIT, by now the Admiral was a Rear Admiral. I would have started that September just after my fifteen birthday, but Mom died a couple of days later - she crashed in the Camaro. It was then that Grandpa, err mum's dad, found out what had been going on, because things came to a head towards the end of the wake. You see Sarah accidently dropped one of mom's best glasses, the Admiral, who had been drinking, lost it and went to hit her, but I stepped in taking the beating in front of everyone there"

"Sarah was so upset she had run off to her room, when I got there about ten minutes later, after clearing up the mess, Nathan was in her room, she was trying to get away from him, he had his hand up..."

"Oh, god - he didn't" Tony guessed at what was coming

"No, I think he was going to, but I interrupted. We started arguing, I think the shouting drew the attention of the remaining adults who hadn't already made a hasty retreat. Somehow we ended up on the landing area, in front of a full audience. Nathan had started punching and shoving me backwards, Sarah was behind pleading with him to stop, the Admiral shouted something out and started coming up the stairs. I froze and Nathan took full advantage, because the next thing I knew was that I was flying backwards over the railings. I must have managed to grabbed hold of one of the posts though, for a short time a least, because I remember dangling for a few moments before I fell"

"I landed heavily on my right foot, though I'm sure both feet were on the ground, thought for a split second that everything was okay, that was until I heard the sharp snapping sound and my legs collapsed under me. I woke several days later, I'd been sedated whilst they operated on the internal injuries and set up the skeleton traction on my leg, Grandpa and Sarah were the only ones in the room, no one else was even there"

"What had happened McGee?" Ziva pushed gently when McGee stopped talking

"Well according to Sarah the Admiral and Grandpa got into it, big time – apparently they argued for most of the first night. Grandpa apparently made it very clear that he wasn't going to look after Nathan when the Admiral went back from leave and that he thought it best if Nathan went into military to get some proper discipline."

"So the Admiral arranged for Nathan to join the Navy, but whilst all this was going on, social got involved and there was the threat that Sarah and I would be taken in custody under the children's protection act. Grandpa didn't like the fact that the Admiral was choosing Nathan over us, but it didn't change anything, the Admiral's leave was up so he went back to his ship"

"Grandpa, Sarah and I talked for days about everything, found out it wasn't the first time Nathan had tried it on with Sarah - apparently Mom had stopped him a couple of times. Grandpa was so reassuring, but I wouldn't let down my guard, after all he had been an Admiral. It sounds silly now, but the higher the rank the Admiral got the worse his temper seemed to get, so the fact that Grandpa had been an Admiral, scared me senseless. He understood and was very patient, but he didn't want us to go into care, just because they wouldn't let him look after us, something to do with his age and the fact he was in a wheelchair."

"So Grandpa spoke with one of his neighbours and then Billy Goat, Grandpa's neighbour's son showed up with his wife, they take in and also foster kids, you see, still do, and they took Sarah in and me once I finally was allowed out of hospital after the traction" The room remained silent as the group digested this new information about their friend, partner and colleague.

"Well that explains a lot Timothy, but there's still one thing I don't understand" Ducky said softly, lifting his head Tim turned to Ducky questioningly, "What happened this morning to get you so worked up, lad? "

Ziva answered before McGee could explain "Nathan made some derogative comments regarding Sarah"

Full understanding now reached the eyes of older members of the group who had only witness the end of the earlier commotion. Whilst Gibbs, Ducky, Tony and Ziva now fully understood McGee's need to protect his sister at all cost. Gibbs had felt physically sick as he had listened to his youngest agent abusive history at the hands of family members. He had an overwhelming desire to rip both the Admiral and Nathan apart, this surged as every new and painful episode unfolded.

But he still had questions too "What about Penny in all of this, were, was she?"

Tim gave a small smile "Billy's full name is William Langston, Penny was Grandpa's neighbour"

"So that's why you never call her anything but Penny, so these are the reasons you don't talk with the Admiral?" Recognition dawned on Tim's face as he realised Gibbs had obviously over heard the conversation between him and Penny.

"Penny always tries to see the best side of things, but it was Penny's husband and Grandpa, both being retired from the Navy, that taught me the real meaning of respect, command and discipline, and what they truly meant, I had been so scared of them both at first, but they were so patient and different from the Admiral, they took time to explain things, excepting me for who I was, not what they wanted me to be, they eventually won me round"

"Grandpa was so proud when I told him my decision about NCIS, he understood the need to protect people and he liked the idea that even though I wasn't going to be in the Navy and continue the family tradition, that was on both sides of the family, that I was still going to be affiliated with it, but the Admiral was just as dismissive of it as anything else I did. Unfortunately Grandpa died shortly before I started here."

"The Admiral didn't like the idea of me being involved with the Navy, but he didn't stop it because Grandpa forbid him from interfering with mine or Sarah's choices, telling him that he had lost the right, when he choose Nathan over his own kids. We talked only as and when needed, mostly when paperwork needed completing for something or other like - University for either me or Sarah. We stopped talking shortly after I came here – we had nothing that we needed to say anymore especially as I took over the official custody of Sarah which meant her paperwork was signed off by me only."

Tim beginning to tire, exhausted not only from all the emotions the memories had brought back to the surface but also from the lack of sleep, recognising this, DiNozzo who had been horrified by the tales he just heard, tried to lighten the mood

"So are you going to explain all the nicknames, I mean, Billy Goat, Pinky and Perky hardly original" he said with a goofy grin

That brought a faint smile to Tim's face as he explain "You've got to remember Tony, Sarah was only just turning eight when we were first introduced to William, he told us straight away to call him Billy rather than William - cause it was so formal, he had a goat beard at the time, which Sarah was fascinated by, so he told her what it was called and she started calling him Billy Goat - it just stuck"

"As for Pinky and Perky, Billy and his wife, Sasha, gave each of the kids that they cared for, fostered or not, a nickname something that was only used by the group and mainly only within the house. Sarah was never out of pink out fits and loved anything pink, so Pinky was an obvious choice, as we came as a pair, the first siblings Billy and Sasha had, so they chose Perky for me, when I arrived from hospital everything in my room was blue, whilst Sarah's was all pink"

Seeing that Tim had finally had enough Ducky called an end to the conversation, despite there being more questions that needed answers and the protests from the rest of the group, he insisted that Tim needed rest and more importantly sleep. Although Vance wasn't entirely happy, it was agreed the Tim should head home, and was only to return in the morning, whilst the others continued with the case.

Tim for his part protested too, but seeing the no-nonsense looks he got from both Ducky and Gibbs it didn't last long. So that Gibbs team could keep working on the case in hand, Vance decided that Agent Harrison from Balboa's team would escort Tim home and keep guard, despite the fact that Tim tried to assure them that neither, the Admiral or Nathan knew where he lived. With that the group dispersed, with Tim collected his things from his desks and after receiving hug from Ziva and a pat on the back from Tony, left the building to head home. However, neither he nor Agent Harrison noticed the dark van that pulled out and followed Tim's car from the Navy Yard.


	8. Chapter 8 Video Horror

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 8 Video Horror**

With Tim leaving the remaining members of the team went back to work, Ducky and Gibbs left the younger members looking into the information from the journal that had now been fully translated, whilst they again found themselves in Vance's office discussing the situation further.

"Well young Timothy is certainly a lot stronger than we've ever given him credit for" Ducky stated simply as they settled into their seats

When he received puzzled looks from both the younger men he continued "With what we have been told today - which I believe probably only scratches the surface - and previous information Timothy has let slip about his bullying in the past, I can only suffice to say it explains a lot of Timothy behaviour when he first join us"

"What do you mean by scratching the surface, Dr Mallard" Vance questioned

"You cannot have failed to notice how young Timothy was very selective in what he told us. He skipped years, went from seven to ten, then eleven and then fourteen. You are not telling me these were the only incidents that occurred"

"So why didn't the Navy do something" Gibb maddened at the thought as to what his friend was implying

"Navy has a very clear policy on this sort of thing" Vance said for once agreeing with Gibbs

"Yes, however they also have a saying" the raised eyebrows indicated that Doctor Mallard should continue - what happens behind closed doors..." he started

"Stays behind closed doors" Gibbs finished for him, understanding spread over the faces of the group as they continued on with the discussion

"So what was your discussion with Jarvis like" Gibbs enquired, remembering what Vance had said at the beginning of the meeting in the conference room.

"Well, it would appear that after our little meeting yesterday Secretary Jarvis decided to do a little investigation of his own into Admiral McGee and it turns out that it is well known throughout the Navy that the Admiral is very quick tempered and has a very unique way of running any ship under his command"

Receiving a 'do tell look' from Gibbs the director sighed before continuing with his explanation "it would appear that it is best to avoid, at all cost, the need to be disciplined - as it is severe, the only person that seems to be able to get away with anything is..."

"Oh let me guess...Nathan" Gibbs voice was very sarcastic

Vance tilted his head indicating that Gibbs was indeed correct in his statement.

"I feel it is time to bring dear Abigail home Director" Ducky stated, receiving questioning looks he continued "Young Timothy is going to need all the support he can get and young Abigail will not be happy about being kept in the dark over this, the two are extremely close."

"He has a point, Leon" Gibbs agreed

After a moment's thought the Vance agreed "Very well",

"It may be best you don't tell Abigail anything over the phone, Director, I would hate for Mr Palmer to have to deal with her anxious behaviour by himself" thinking about it for a moment Ducky continued "it may be best if you recalled them both, as not to raise the alarm, too much"

"Very well, I will re-arrange their flights for this evening, but one of you can meet them at the airport and explain all this - I for one do not want to have to deal with her temper tantrum - guess I should re-arrange their attendance of this conference for a later date whilst I'm at it."

Receiving a silent nods from the others Vance continued, "Oh, just so you're aware I have taken the liberty of informing Secretary Jarvis that both the Admiral and Commander McGee are no longer welcome in this building. I want to be kept informed on this one, gentlemen" dismissing them from his office.

**- NCIS -**

Things were progressing, but extremely slowly, with the case and the project Gibbs had given to Tony. It was starting to get dark outside and Tony was spending a lot of time on the phone regarding the digging around he had been doing the previous day. Gibbs could tell something was bothering his Senior Field Agent, but he waited for him to approach the topic, as Gibbs thought he knew what the problem was. He didn't have to wait long, with the ending of yet another phone call. Tony was on his feet, pacing up and down the bullpen.

Doctor Mallard had just arrived to give Gibbs his final autopsy report on Kennings before heading out to collect Abby and Jimmy from the airport and watch in amusement as Tony paced clearly agitated, but it was Ziva that finally got Tony talking.

"Tony! For crying out loud! Cut it out!"

"Its spit, Ziva, spit it out!"

"That too!" Ziva said in frustrated response

"- I can't believe Probie would do that to us!"

"Do what DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned quietly

"Lie! He out and out lied to us!"

"Yes Gibbs, that is something you told me yourself, that McGee does not know how to lie and that he is incapable of doing so" Ziva agreed with Tony whilst remind Gibbs of a long ago conversation between them.

"Lied about what exactly" Jacobs enquired bring himself into the conversation for the first time

"The accident - in the Camaro" Tony exasperated

"Antony, really….and Ziva my dear, have you not thought as to why?" Ducky admonished them lightly

Taking a moment to think back through everything Tim had informed them that morning, Ziva came to a realisation "It was not such a lie, as more a bending of the truth per se, to explain his injuries"

"Correct Ziva, my dear, young Timothy realised that there may be a time when you or someone else he knew, would see the damage from his injuries and that it would be questioned, so he used the accident of the Camaro to cover the real reason" Ducky explained to the younger members of the team

"Accept, it might not have been an accident" Tony answered, suddenly feeling guilty, as he realised Ducky was correct

"Explain, DiNozzo" Gibbs ordered

"Just finished talking to one of the local agents - names Sanders - that worked the accident scene; he's a couple a months away from retirement. He wasn't the lead agent, but remembers the incident like it was yesterday. They investigated and found that the brake line had been cut part way through, but they only ever got particles, which brought up no matches, so the lead agent put it down to faulty maintenance - which sounds suspect to me, but he's sending me the report and evidence, it should be here tomorrow"

None of the team had noticed the ding of the elevator during the latter half of the discussion bringing the arrival of Tobias Fornell and Ron Sacks from the FBI, both of whom looked very tired and uncomfortable but said nothing to announce their arrival as they made their way into the bullpen. Tobias strolled over to the plasma and DVD player in the middle of the bullpen "Gibbs we got a problem" he stated plainly, with no formal greeting, as the screen flash on it showing Timothy McGee collecting something from the boot of his car before being confront by several men and a fight breaking out.

"But that's..." Tony quieted and a long with the rest of the group watched the fight first with pride at how well Tim was handling the multiple assailants, but the pride soon turned into horror at the way that the fight came to an abrupt end. Tim's body was unceremoniously picked up and thrown into the back of a large black van, with the van then driving away at a high speed, but not before seeing two small items being thrown from the window.

Tobias stopped the DVD and turned "we found out about this ten minutes ago, after the stake-out we were on finished and came straight here, that" he indicated to the screen "Happened late this morning, right outside his apartment block, time stamp indicates around 11.45am. These where found near the scene, think they're what was thrown from the van as it pulled away" Tobias said holding out was holding Tim's badge and Sig

"That wasn't long after we sent him home Jethro" Ducky's voice was filled with concern, then realising he was now running late to meet the plane he made a hasty retreat.

"Where the hell was Harrison, whilst this is going on?" Gibbs demanded, as Agent Balboa and his team joined the group.

"From what the Local Leo, that's at the hospital, told us over the phone, the witness they spoke with said he had a few problems of his own" Sacks spoke up holding up another evidence bag which contained a syringe "They injected him with a heavy sedative, he was just coming around as we arrived here, according to the doctors, he's going to need a night in hospital"

"Oh, he'll need more that a night in hospital by the time I'm finished with him!" Gibbs growled

"Gibbs" Vance's voiced warningly as he leaned over the railings of the balcony, before quickly making his way down the stairs

"It's called protection detail for a reason!"

"I'll deal with Harrison later" Balboa interjected before Vance could say anything "Why don't we all just concentrate on find McGee, for now, shall we" indicating to both teams hoping this would appease Gibbs

"Ziva see if you can get a license plate of that thing" Gibbs instructed as he point towards the plasma before taking Tim's badge and Sig from Fornell.

"What have you guy's gotten yourselves into this time?" Fornell enquired

**- NCIS -**

There was now a real sense of urgency in the bullpen as the two NCIS teams and the FBI combined their efforts, Gibbs and Vance were talking with Fornell, over to the side of the bullpen, near the window, enlightening the FBI agent as to what had been going on.

Realising it may be a long night Balboa sent two of this team out to get coffee and snacks for everyone, before he joined up with DiNozzo and Sacks to look at the remaining pages of the journal of Kennings, splitting the print out between them, all three hoping it may reveal something to help with a location. Whilst Jacobs was trying to help a frustrated Ziva, with the video of the abduction. Ziva keeps missing the point in which the license plate of the van was at its clearest in the video, by either going forward or back too far. Gibbs smiled as he remembered seeing something similar happen between McGee and Ziva, whilst the team had been investigating a suspected bank robbery which actually turned out to be a hit job.

"Penny for them" Fornell says quietly bring Gibbs back to the present

"Oh, for crying out loud Ziva let the man help" Gibbs growled. Ziva sighed and hand over the control unit to Jacobs who quickly got the video in place, once the license plate was up it still wasn't particularly clear.

"Couldn't you have got another video with a better angle, from this we can only get the last five characters" Ziva ranted

"Think yourself lucky we got that one, the coffee owner only had the equipment installed a few weeks ago, there is no other surveillance/security cameras in the area" Sacks replied evenly

This information did not sit well with Ziva; however she returns to her desk to issue a BOLO and then continued working with Jacobs on the listing from the Journal, trying to match ranks with what they believed were initials, now they had finally received the personnel listing for the fleet.


	9. Chapter 9 Shocks & Surprises

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 9 Shocks & Surprises**

When Tim first came too, he was confused between the past and the present as he slowly became aware of three very distinct sensations the first and main one being pain – the most severe of which was emanating from his leg ~_okay nothing I haven't dealt with in the past_~ he thought sarcastically to himself, then there was the pain in his lower back – that was different, if felt odd, normally when his back hurt, it felt like it was on fire after receiving a belting. This pain was, however dull in comparison and if he thought about, similar to that in his leg, but to a lesser degree, the third pain was coming from just above his right eye giving him a splitting headache.

The other two sensations were new and made him realise that he wasn't back in his youth having received a belting from the Admiral. The first of which was, the awareness that his feet where cold – wet and cold to be more precise – which he thought of as odd. Despite the protest he received from his brain for doing so, he managed to open his eyes. He could barely make anything out in the dim and dusky light ~_must be evening_~ he thought though he wasn't entirely confident with that assessment. Once his eyes finally adjust to the light he could see that he was still fully dressed with the exception of his shoes and socks. His feet were barely touching the stone floor which for its part was covered in light coating of water.

The second sensation was understood as he realised the position of his feet and that his arms where aching, especially his left shoulder, through the fact that they were supporting his entire bodyweight, looking up from his feet he saw that his arms, or rather his wrists were securely attached, above his head, by what looked like his own handcuffs, to a metal pole, which itself was suspended from a very high ceiling.

He had barely taken his predicament when a door opened above his head height revealing a staircase that lead downward and a group a men walked in, unfortunately with the dimming light all Tim was only able to make out was the height of the individuals as all but three of them formed a circle around him. The other three stood in the corner by the stairs observing as the grilling started

"Glad you've finally decided to join us, Agent McGee" the said the first man in the group as he walked up to Tim, now he was closer Tim could make out some of the features of his face, especially the scar that ran down one side "You're going to tell us exactly what we want to know"

Tim rolled his eyes at the assumption that had just been made "So you know who I am - why don't you finish the introductions" he replied calmly – even if he didn't feel particularly calm, the backhander he received, told him the guy wasn't in the mood for games, but Tim just gave him an 'is that all you got look.'

"You don't need to know, you just need to answer" the guy retorted

"Haven't heard a question yet" Tim replied sarcastically, that earned him a fist into his stomach, from the next guy of group, who was standing just right of the man doing the talking, but he managed to stifle the groan that threatened to escape.

"Tell me what's on the hard-drive" the guy demanded.

"How do you now about the hard-drive?" The question slipped out, before a confused Tim even realised he had said out load what he was thinking. This time something hard struck him from behind, low on his back.

"We're asking the questions, not you, know tell us what's on the hard-drive!" this voice came from behind and Tim tried to twist to see the owner, but didn't manage it.

"Can't tell you what I don't know" Tim replied evenly, though his mind was racing – this wasn't a good situation to be in at the best of times but now he knew what they wanted it made it worse. The kick into his ribs, had him gasping for breath.

"I would strongly suggest that you don't play games with us!" The first man bellowed into Tim's face, he was almost nose to nose with Tim now and Tim could see pure hatred in the man's eyes.

"Who say's I'm playing games…..Anyway even if I knew what was on the hard-drive, what makes you think I would tell you?" Tim responded, this triggered of a flood of fists and kicks, which went on for some time, but it wasn't until someone hit Tim with something hard against his already throbbing leg that Tim actually screamed, which he stifled by clamping his mouth onto his upper arm.

"Enough!" Ordered one of the three men that had been in the corner of the room observing, as he broke away and moved towards the group surrounding Tim.

"Oh come on Karl, we were just starting to have some fun" one of the members of the larger group whined

"It's my turn" Karl stated in a no-nonsense tone before he turned his full attention to Tim his voice was threateningly calm "Now Agent McGee, you have a choice you can continue pretending you don't know, but I warn you my team here will continue the beating until you submit or you can take your chances with the high-tide, that regularly floods this room"

Tim looked at the man as he continued to bring his breathing back under control "Not much of a choice either way" Tim muttered

"Your right, but each tide is different and I cannot predict how high the sea water will get, it has reached the top step before now" The man stated evenly, indicating behind him, Tim's eyes followed the gesture to realise the top step was way above his head

"Even if I could tell you what you want, after I had, you wouldn't need me anymore" Tim quantified

Karl studied Tim for a long time, grabbing him roughly around the face "What makes you think that, you may prove very useful. So are you really are telling me you don't know what's on that Hard-drive?" his tone told Tim that he wasn't about to believe him anytime soon.

"Haven't even finished decrypting it yet" Tim replied evenly.

The final two members of the group, that had been watching from the corner moved closer "Then why would you have left?" a familiar voice sneered

"Nat…..Nathan?" Tim said surprised

Instead of receiving a verbal reply, Tim felt something sharp against his neck "Answer me!"

Tim remained defiantly quiet as the knife slowly moved down to his chest, before crossing the left side and onto his back, as Nathan slowly circled around him, lowering the knife so it now hovering to the just a couple inches above the waistline, with no warning the knife penetrated into Tim's back and slashed its way a across. Tim battled to prevent himself from screaming as the new pain ambushed his senses.

"Tell us what we want to know!" Nathan demanded

"Can't….tell….you…..what….I…don't…..know" Tim gasped out, blackness threatened to overcome him.

Nathan continued to circle Tim so that he was again standing in front of him where he pressed the knife more firmly into the area that would lead to his heart, though not actually penetrating the skin.

"You really think you have a choice?" Nathan sneered as the knife started to penetrate the first few layers of skin, Tim gritted his teeth as he prepared to suffer the pain that was about to happen

Suddenly the knife disappeared, as someone pulled Nathan back from Tim

"I think we should let Agent McGee take his chances with the high tide, you never know it might just loosen his tongue"

Tim tried not to show his shock as he looked to the man standing off to the side and slightly behind his cousin, he would have known the voice anywhere, and in the dim light made out the distinctive figure of Trent Kort. For a moment Tim thought his mind was playing tricks on him, that was until he noticed Trent using his free hand to send the coded signal, he and Gibb's team had come up with long ago indicated that the person sending it was working undercover.

Nathan considered Trent's recommendation for a moment before looking at Karl, who was obviously in charge, of the whole group, who nodded that he agreed with Kort.

"Yes, and if that doesn't fully loosen his tongue the electric cattle prod will, and it will work especially well, if we use it whilst there is still a few inches of water in the room, particularly as he will still be covered in the sea water"

The threat of what Karl had implied hung heavily in the air, whilst Nathan appeared to be mulling something over

"Okay - but I'd like some private time with my cousin" looking at Karl for approval

"Two minutes and you won't be needing this" Karl stated firmly as he removed the bloodied knife from Nathan's hand. With a jerk of head to give the order, the rest of the group, including Kort, followed him upstairs. Nathan watched them leave making sure the door was closed before he turned his attention back to Tim, studying him for just a moment before speaking.

"Imagine my surprise, when I tried to visit Sarah at the university, only to be told by her campus roommate, that she wasn't there" Nathan said as he again made his way behind Tim

"I told you to stay away from Sarah!" Tim replied as forcefully as he could considering the pain he was enduring.

Nathan grabbed Tim's hair and bent his neck back hard, making him gasp at the sudden movement "Don't think you in any position to be telling me what to do Tim-Tim" Nathan mocked before turning angry "Tell me where she is!"

"I don't think so" Tim replied as best he could

"Sarah belongs to me!" Nathan shouted into Tim ear before roughly shoving his head forward, letting Tim's hair go in the process.

"Sarah doesn't belong to anyone" Tim shouted back evenly "And I'm not going to tell you where to find her!"

Nathan, who was now back in front of him, suddenly threw out two punches hitting Tim squarely in the face and stomach before leaning in threateningly.

"Oh I think you are" Nathan sneered to Tim's face "one way or another you're going to tell me and I might even consider sending you a video of the two of us together if you survive any of this" indicating around the room.

Tim felt sick at the very thought of what Nathan was implying, but to his relief the door opened and he heard Karl's voice "Nathan!"

Nathan looked up at the door way and then at Tim, who believed he saw a moment of insubordination cross Nathan face, before he obviously thought better of it and made his way upstairs. However just as Nathan reached the top of the stairs he turned and looked down at Tim

"You know this would have been a whole lot easier, if you had just died with your interfering mother, like you were supposed too"

"What…What are you talking about?" Tim questioned clearly stunned by the comment

"If you had been in the car, like you should have been, Sarah would be with me like the Admiral has always wanted!"

Before Tim could fully register what was said, Nathan was out the door and the room fell into pitch darkness, as something cold and wet tickled against Tim's feet.


	10. Chapter 10 Breakthrough

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 10**

One by one, ranks and initial's started to match up, so Jacobs and Ziva started searching for information on the names trying to find any connection. Though there were a few initials and ranks just didn't have any connections, and now it was Ziva turn to become frustrated as she started muttering in Hebrew.

Tony looked up from the pages he was studying "What is it, what's wrong?" he questioned

"All these men on this list, that we have managed to connect, have bad rap sheets" she states clearly frustrated, "The only connection between them seems to be that they have all either been or are in the Navy, and have all served within the same fleet!"

"Bad how?" Tony asked just as a ding, the doors opened to reveal a very upset Abby being comforted by Ducky and his obviously shocked assistant Jimmy Palmer. As they entered the bullpen Abby rushed over to Gibbs, as he opened up his arms.

"Gibbs, Gibbs…..tell me it's not true" Abby cried as she buried her face into his shoulder

"Not this time, Abs" pulling back slightly and Gibbs place his hand under her chin and tilted her head back so he could look into her eyes

"Abby did you know anything about the abuse?" Gibbs questioned gently, Abby look pensive for a moment biting her lower lip, as both Tony and Ziva approached

"Abby" Tony prompted gently

"I only found out because of the horrible scars on his back" she admitted weakly "but Timmy swore me secrecy"

"Scars?" Ziva questioned, Abby looked at her blankly for a moment, before looking at the other members of the group only to see the same questioning expression

"You've never seen them?" she asked, again looking round the group to receive only shakes of the head to the negative "The scars from the beltings?"

"No Abby, we've never seen them" Tony said quietly

"Well in that case they can't be that bad" Jimmy said innocently, from the looks he received he tried to quantify what he meant "They would have been on his medical records if they were that bad"

"Their faint Jimmy, not really that noticeable anymore, unless you know" Abby explained, looking back at Gibbs she continued "it was before he joined the team from Norfolk, you know we went on a couple of dates, during one we went swimming, I slipped and he grabbed me to stop me from falling and I wrapped my hand around his back, and accidently felt the ridges that are under the surface"

"Then the belting must have had to be very bad, Abby" Jimmy spoke softly and Ziva took hold off her Star of David muttering a quietly

"Tim's dad didn't use a standard belt Jimmy, it was studded" Abby chocked out the words, Gibbs pulled her back into a hug as the continuing horror of Tim's past continued to astound the group.

From the side line Vance had listened to what was said, but realised that this new information was not helping locating their missing agent, so he gently cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention before silently taping on his watch.

Taking the hint they all realised the need to get back to work at hand, it was then that Balboa who had listened but carried on studying his pages came across what he thought may be a password.

"Commander? I think I've got something" he said

Jacobs looked up from his work and made his way over to Balboa before looking at what the agent was point to, realising its significance he moved swiftly to McGee's desk and started typing. Moments later he pulled something up on to the plasma

"Got it" he stated calmly with a smile spreading over his face, gaining the attention of the whole group

"Got what" Gibbs questioned

"Agent Balboa found the password for the hard-drive buried in the journal, I'm not sure exactly what this is, but it's some sort coding or algorithm"

"That's all that's on the hard-drive?" Tony questioned unbelieving it was something so simple, only to receive a nod to the affirmative from Jacobs who now seem to be studying the random ones and zeros that flickered over the screen

"So what is it?" Gibbs questioned as he turned to look at him, before he saw a familiar figure stepping out of the elevator with the returning members of Balboa's team "Kort?"

"Well I expected you to be here, but…." Kort waved his arms towards the rest of the group as he started to approach Gibbs

"What do you want Trent?" Tony questioned aggressively

"Wow, down boy" Kort mocked

"We're kind of busy, Trent, we don't have time for CIA games" Fornell stepped into his path, everyone knew there was little love between the FBI and the CIA, Kort looked past him and directly at Gibbs.

"Do you want your boy back or not?" He questioned

"Wait you know where McGee is?" Tony stated shocked

"Well, yeah Dinozzo" came the sarcastic reply

"How and where?" Gibbs demand

"No time Gibbs, if you want him back alive"

"What the hells that supposed to mean?" Fornell demanded

"If time's that short why didn't you just call" Gibbs ordered

Trying not to lose his patients, at the group that didn't understand the urgency of the situation, Kort gave a quick and brief explanation "Look the long and the short of it is if I don't get you to him, he's more than likely going to drown, and we don't exactly have a trust me relationship, you only believe me when we are face to face"

That had all the agents grabbing for their gear, "Fine, but you better explain on the way" Gibbs growled impatiently

"Going to need you with us Dr Mallard" Kort stated plainly

"Abby, figure that out" Gibbs ordered indicating to the plasma

When Gibbs noticed Vance moving to go with them he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"He's my agent too, Gibbs" Vance stated with a '_do not argue with me over this_' look on his face, to which Gibbs just inclined his head in agreement before heading into the elevator.

The bullpen emptied as a mass exodus of agents, along with Ducky and Palmer, leaving behind just Abby and Jacobs.

**- NCIS -**

Getting to the basement, Kort, Gibbs, Vance and Fornell all piled into one car, whilst Ziva and Tony took another with Agent Balboa, the remaining agents claimed the third and last car, whilst Ducky and Palmer as usual got into their truck.

Once in the car with Kort driving, Gibbs hit speakerphone and then speed-dial on his phone, for Tony's phone so a plan that broke out in the elevator was kick started, with Vance putting his phone on speed-dial to Ducky

"Start talking" Gibbs demanded as Kort started driving

"Alright! About a month ago we received a tipoff from a guy that was getting cold feet about something his older brother had badgered him into doing. It's supposed to help the group get the ultimate payback, for what I don't know. Any how I managed to get in with the group under the assumption that I was his friend, I've been working to gain the trust of the older brother Karl, he's seems to be in charge of this whole thing, until this afternoon I had no idea Navy brats were even involved"

"So what's this got to do with Tim?" Tony's voice drifted over the phone

"Really DiNozzo, how thick are you?"

"Just answer the damn question Kort!" Vance ordered

"The younger brother, John, who's really good a computer stuff, you know – a bit like your boy, was to steal something that was on a hard-drive, and send it to his brother, I guess it didn't arrive or got intercepted, because all the plans suddenly changed and add to that the fact that John's MIA"

"Not MIA – died and in our morgue" Ducky informed him

"Well that at least explains one thing then. Anyway another member of the group, Nathan, found out where the damn hard-drive thing was and said it would be easy to get the guy dealing with it to talk. Have to tell you I was shocked when I found out it was your boy"

"Wait! Did you say Nathan" Ziva queried

"Might not be the same person Ziva" Vance warned

"Highly coincidental don't you think Leon?" Gibbs stated

"Do you have a surname for Nathan" Fornell queried

"No, but he call your McGoo his cousin" Trent replied

"Hey you don't get to call him that!" Tony snapped, whilst at the same time Ziva exclaimed "I'm going to kill him!"

"Hey knock it of you two" Gibbs snapped "Kort tell us about where we're going"

"The old warehouse block, near the naval base, the ones that were abandoned when they started flooding. Your boy's probably about chest high in water by now"

"Then what are you waiting for, put your damned foot down!" Gibbs barked


	11. Chapter 11 Stepping Stones

Thought I might give you guys a treat seeing that it's Easter and several of you have asked not to be kept hanging! :o)

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 11 Stepping Stones**

Tim had lost count of the number of times he lost consciousness, every time he came to the water was higher, and colder, than it had previously been and he couldn't help but think about what Nathan had said, and although he didn't want to believe it, there had been something in the way that Nathan had communicated the information to him that told him Nathan was telling the truth.

This time, he was brought back to awareness by the water lapping into his mouth causing him to cough and splatter in response, as he managed to stop himself coughing he became aware of the sound of gunfire taking place nearby, thinking he was imaging it, as the moment seem to pass fairly quickly, he sighed pushing back both the false hope and the negative thoughts that entered his mind yet again, as he made yet another attempted to pull himself up by grabbing onto the pole above his head. Only to fail due to the fact his arms where tired and hurt too much even support the endeavour.

Just as Tim gave up on his efforts, closing his eyes and tilting his head back in an effort to stop the water entering into his mouth, he heard the door above him open and bright lights flashed around the room causing him to squint every time they hit his eyes.

"McGee" Gibbs called out, as he started down the stairs after spotting how perilously high the water actually was.

"Boss" Tim responded in barely a whisper, not quite believing his ears Tim requested confirmation "Boss that you?"

"Yeah, Tim, hold on, we're going to get you out of here" Gibbs informed him. He was just about to enter the water when Ziva grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Gibbs we can't" she warned, Gibbs looked at her in disbelief, so she quickly continued "if we enter the water we increase the level" pointing towards Tim as the water again lapped into his mouth causing him to splatter and cough "Besides you can't breathe under water any more than any of the rest of us can"

"Well we can't stay her and do nothing" Gibbs growled out frustrated as he realised Ziva was correct in her assessment.

"I've got an idea" Tony stated calmly, who had been doing his own assessment of the situation, tapping Sacks on the shoulder and indicating him to follow, he made his way back up past Vance and Balboa, coming out of the door, passing Fornell and Jackson who were standing guard guns still drawn.

"Hold on Tim" Gibbs called out

"Trying boss" Tim responded

Gibbs then pulled out his phone and dialled Ducky's number to give him the all clear and get him into the building. Moments later Tony reappeared, carrying a couple of wooden chairs, Sacks following close behind with two more.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned

"If one of us can get this under him, it will raise him up a couple of feet, giving us the opportunity to help support him, whilst we get him freed" Tony explained his idea

Gibbs went to agree with the idea, but Tim's response was quicker "Don't think that's going to help much Tony"

"Why not Probie?" Tony quizzed

"Fairly sure my right leg broken, again, besides can't actually fell my legs right now, haven't for a while now" the tremor in his voice made the rest of the group realise he was trying not to panic at the thought

"That's just the coldness of the water McGee" Ziva said in an effort to reassure him

"It's okay McGee the ideas good, we're just going to have to adjust it slightly" Gibbs said soothingly

"Boss?" Tony queried

"We've got four chairs Tony, we'll use them like stepping stones under the water, two of us supporting Tim whilst Ziva and…." Gibbs looked at Sacks who nodded his agreement "Sacks move the chairs about and guide us back to the stairs."

Whilst Gibbs had been explaining the alterations to Tony's original planned, he had hand over his gun and phone to Balboa before removing his shoes and sitting down on the edge of the stairs and slipping himself into the water. Once he was treading water he reached out and took a chair from Tony before making his way over to Tim

"Easy Tim, hold on just a little longer, son" Gibbs said low enough that only Tim would hear him, receiving a nod from his young agent, Gibbs inhaled deeply before lowering himself and the chair below the surface. Running one hand lightly down the left hand side of Tim's body, Gibbs guided himself to where he could place the chair firmly on the ground down, before manoeuvring himself on the chair in a kneeling position, once that was done he gently moved Tim's left foot up onto the chair before standing himself up.

Everyone on the stairs waited with baited breath until Gibbs resurface, as he came out of the water he pulled Tim up with him, who let slip stifled a groan, taking the both well above the water line

"Tony!"

"On it boss!" Tony responded lowering himself into the water, having already removed his shoes, sig and phone. He carefully made his way over to the pair before following Gibbs example down the right hand side of Tim, mindful of not touching his leg too firmly.

Resurfacing Tony to spoke softly to Tim "Hey Probie" the "Hey" he received back had Tony looking at Gibbs with concern

"We need to work fast Boss".

"Support him whilst I get him free" Gibbs instructed as he grabbed his key pick tools from his back pocket "Ziva, Sacks get in the water we need to get moving!"

At this both Sacks and Ziva entered the water both carrying a chair, over to the trio. Moments later Tim sagged heavily against them both, as his wrists where freed from the cuffs holding him up, and it was only the pair's quick reactions that stopped him from going under. Ziva went under first using Gibbs position as guide. Once she had the chair the ground Ziva tapped Gibb's right ankle indicating for him to move and as he did she guide his foot onto the next chair, before following the same procedure with his the left foot. Ziva then lift Tim left foot over before, retrieving the now freed up chair and returning to the surface.

With Gibbs having moved over by a good foot, Tim was now at an awkward angle between Gibbs and Tony, so before Sacks made his dive they took opportunity to reposition him and the hold to make the rest of the trip back to the stair easier. Sacks then took his turn at diving under the surface.

This stepping stone approach continued until the team reached the stairs, with Vance helping to support Gibbs as he pulled Tim onto the steps and then continuing to help him get the injured agent up the stairs and out of the basement. With Tim safely away the three younger members of the group then made their way out of the water.


	12. Chapter 12 Hospital Waiting Room

Thank you all again for the wonderful reviews, sorry I am later than normal in posting this but I had a bit of difficulty in writing this chapter. Please note all medical details are completely made up in my imagination and I have no medical experience so if its wrong I apologise

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**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 12 Hospital Waiting Room**

The remainder of the night passed in a haze for Gibbs combining two of the things he hated most waiting and hospitals. Tony and Ziva quietly watched from where they sat, as Gibbs paced impatiently in the waiting room, they could tell he was reflecting of the events of the past few hours, the concern of his face told them how worried he really was for the youngest member of their team.

*****Reflection*****

Additional NCIS, from Agent O'Neil's team and FBI agents seemed to appear from nowhere, though Gibbs was sure this was down to Vance and Fornell, as they had escorted Tim out from the basement. The additional agents went straight to work helping Agent Balboa team in dealing the remaining gang members, escorting them either to headquarters or the hospital if required, and helping to process the scene, leaving the MRCT members to concentrate solely on Tim.

The seriousness of Tim's injuries had become apparent as they had lead him out of the basement, his assessment of his leg being broken was accurate, but he had failed to mention that the bone had broken the through the skin, which caused Agents O'Neil's youngest agent to lose her evening meal. Tim had done his best to stoically hide how much pain he was truly in from the other agents, as they worked around the group, but had passed out as the paramedics did the best they could to splinter the leg, before quickly assessing his other injuries, in order help stop the steady blood loose that was taking place.

Jimmy had stepped up to the plate telling Ducky that he was quite capable of dealing with taking the two dead gang members back to headquarter, therefor leaving Ducky free to go to the hospital with Tim in the ambulance. This had earned him the famous Gibbs glare as he had wanted to escort Tim to the hospital himself, but Jimmy was determined and held his ground as he calmly explained that an extra pair of medically trained hands in the ambulance could only be of benefit to Tim at that point in time. Gibbs had not needed to have worried about not being in the ambulance though, as with Ziva driving the agency sedan was never more than a couple of inches from its bumper for the whole journey to Bethesda.

On arrival at the hospital they found out that Tim had just flat-lined in the ambulance and the two paramedics, along with Ducky, had rushed him straight into the emergency room, leaving the three, very damp, members' of the team with nothing to do but wait for news.

_*****End Reflection*****_

Vance arrived with a change of clothes for each of them - no one asked how he got them, especially Ziva's - and fresh coffee. One of the nurses kindly allowed them to use the staff changing area, so they took it in turns to change, Gibbs going last. When he returned back to the small waiting room Gibbs dropped heavily into the chair next to the one the Director had taken, on the opposite side of the room to Tony and Ziva.

It was at that moment that Agents O'Neill and Balboa arrived, along with Fornell and Sacks, who was also freshly changed, ready to support their counterparts.

"Two of the gang member have been allowed to leave the hospital, our FBI friends have escorted them back to NCIS, the other three are being kept in overnight, the most serious of the three came through surgery just fine, but will probably never walk again" Balboa informed them, carefully watching them, knowing full well that they really didn't care about anyone else other than Tim.

"We placed guards on the three still here, and as an extra pre-caution handcuffed them to their beds, much to the annoyance of some of the hospital staff" O'Neill joined into the with the update.

The two NCIS agents took their leave, after spending a quiet few minutes discussing more of what was happening with Vance, to start on the interrogations of the other gang members, with that the waiting group slip back into a familiar silence.

**- NCIS -**

The sun was beginning to break when Jimmy, Abby and Commander Jacobs arrived at the hospital, after completing all they code back at headquarter, by now Gibbs was pacing again and was getting obviously frustrated with the long wait for news. Abby made to approach Gibbs, when Tony stepped into her path gently shaking his head before giving her a quick hug and leading her to where he and Ziva were sitting. Jimmy watched his friends for a moment before taking a seat nearest to where Gibbs was pacing and waited. It was Vance that eventually broke the long spell of silence.

"So what do we know?" Vance asked, looking at Abby, hoping it would distract her from the fact that she wasn't currently at the top of Gibbs priority list for once, however when she didn't respond it was left to Commander Jacobs to fill in the team.

"From what we've learnt so far, whatever that coding was, it was designed to ensure the correct power distribution/supply to all the different systems on any ship or submarine in the fleet. Pretty impressive really when you have multiple systems using different power requirements and need to be in use at the same time."

The tone of his voice told them that he was more than impressed with what he had learnt over the last few hours

"I don't get it, what's so important about power distribution" Tony said, he was tired, worried and frustrated

"Everything on a ship or submarine need power Dinozzo." Gibbs statement was quiet but it got everyone's attention as it was the first time he had actually spoken.

"Yeah, but…." Tony objected

"No Tony Agent Gibbs is correct, I'm not sure what's been done if anything to the program but I'm fairly certain it's been altered and I'd hate to think of the damage it could do if upload into a ships systems" Commander Jacobs explained clearly unsatisfied at not being able to give more clarity to the problem.

"Well it's a starting point, and now we have the gang in custody, we can find out what they were planning to do with it" Vance said, just as the doors to the waiting room opened to reveal a very tired looking Ducky and two other medical staff, Gibbs immediately stopped pacing and looked direct at his old friend for the re-assurance he desperately needed, for his part Ducky gave them all a faint smile before holding his hands up to stop any questions as he started to talk

"Timothy's made it through surgery and is currently being moved to the ICU and once he's settled you can see him, now this is Doctor Carter and you know Brad, of course"

"Brad, what are you doing here?" Tony questioned as he acknowledge Dr Brad Pitt

"Well Tim's lungs both collapsed, thanks to several crack and broken rips, which is part of the reason he flat lined in the ambulance as it arrived, anyway we've stabilised the lungs and have Tim on a respirator right now to supporting his breathing" Brad explained

"Let us be completely honest with you, it's his other injuries that we are more concerned with, the laceration to his back impacted on his kidney, we repaired the damage the best we can but we need to monitor that closely over the next 24/48 hours." Doctor Carter started explaining

"Tim's leg has had to be pinned, as both the tibia and fibula were broken, well smashed would be a better description, we may need to operate again on that as the muscle around the area was also badly damaged, but that will be decided later on" the Doctor offered a reassuring smile to the shocked group

"He also has a lot of internal and external bruising, from what I can tell you agent seems to have taken one hell of a beating, we will be keeping a close eye on his condition and you can all see him for a short period of time but the young man needs his rest so please be aware of this"

With that Doctor Carter left leaving Ducky and Brad to escort the group up to the ICU area to see their friend/colleague.


	13. Chapter 13 Crashing

******Disclaimer:** I do not own_ NCIS or its characters_.

**Chapter 13 Crashing**

As the group eagerly made its way towards the ICU unit's reception area, Brad continued to explain some of the more minor injuries they had dealt with.

"Tim's shoulder left shoulder was dislocated but we've managed to reset it and have strapped it so it's immobilised for the next 24 hours, not that it overly matters as we won't be taking Tim off any of the sedation for at least that long anyway, when he leaves it will be in a sling for a few weeks. Now his temperature was extremely low when he arrived so we have him covered with warming blankets, to help get it back to where it should be."

"As long as there are no complications, we will monitor him for 24/48 hours after the sedatives wear off before moving him out of ICU, I should imagine if all goes well, Tim will probably only be with us for another week after that"

Brad was just about to speak again when the loud and distinctive voice of Admiral McGee could be heard shouting at a person or persons unknown.

"He's my son and I will see him!"

"Have you any idea who I am?!"

Fornell was a little surprised at how quickly the mood of the group changed as the NCIS members stiffened with anger, with the exception of Abby and Jimmy who both just looked confused and concerned at their team reactions. The group rounded the corner to see the reception nurse and one of the FBI junior agent's cowering in the wake of the Admiral glare

"Well hello again Admiral" Vance stated with calm and clarity he really wasn't feeling at this moment

The Admiral turned and glared at the newly arrived group.

"I'm glad you've come to see Timothy…"

"Why on earth would I be here to see the Boy?! Nathans been shot and this idiot informs me he's under arrest for god-sake! Whatever the matter is with the boy he's probably brought it on himself and will get no sympathy from me!" The Admiral cut across Ducky, who had completely miss understood the situation, without a second thought

That did it, any resolve that Gibbs had been holding onto finally broke as he took just two strides before he had the Admiral by the scruff of his collar, it took the combined efforts of Fornell, Vance, Tony and Sacks to get the two apart, as Gibbs started yelling at him.

"You really are a nasty piece of work you know that!" Gibbs growled "Your son, your actual son, not that idiot you call your son, has been fitting for his life, thanks to the gang your stupid nephews hooked up with!"

"Now you listen to me Agent Gibbs!" The Admiral's voice was dripping with disgust "I don't care who you are, you don't talk to me like that – I will be speaking to your superiors about this and you'll be out of job before you know it"

"Strange I thought I was his superior" Vance commented ingeniously

"Don't get smart with me!" The admiral shot back

Fornell decided to step into the fray "Admiral, I'm Agent Fornell, FBI, We haven't met. I believe you're requesting to see Nathan is that correct?"

"Of course it is, I just said so, didn't I!"

"Well seeing he is in fact under arrest, and will not be allowed any visitors for the time being, as it is for a possible act of treason, I suggest you leave, before I have you arrested for creating a disturbance and threatening one of my agents" Fornell stated so calmly

"Treason! I refuse to believe that Nathan is involved in something like that!"

"Well believe it Admiral, he was at the warehouse when we raided it" Tony spoke up for the first time

Glaring at Tony, who was standing just inches from Gibbs, the Admiral's reply shocked the group still further "If that's the case then Nathan, my son – and yes Gibbs he is my son by blood -, was obviously not there of his own free will!"

"I will be contacting my lawyer and the when I'm back later, this whole mess had better have been resolved! I will expect nothing less than a full apology and compensation for the injuries caused to Nathan by your agent's inept abilities to protect innocence Naval personnel, Director Vance!" the Admiral huffed out before turning to leave, only to come face to face, literally, with Trent Kort.

"Not going to happen…..Admiral" Kort's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he threw something at Tony, which only just managed to catch due to the fact the movement had been unexpected.

"What…..?" Tony started to query

"Who the hell are you?!" The Admiral demanded

Kort smirked "I'm the guy with the evidence that puts your 'innocent son' in prison. Not only being a part of that gang, but for the attempted murder of a federal agent and possibly the murder of Edith McGee"

"Don't be ridiculous!" flustered the Admiral

"It's all on there" Kort calmly stated as he indicated to the package now firmly in Tony's hand "He all but confesses to it" Kort had a very smug look on his face

Turning to see the package the Admiral snapped "This is a set up! You won't get away with this!"

"Just go Admiral, but don't leave the country" A smile spread across Kort's face as he responded to the man he consider a complete idiot, as he stepped sideways whilst gesturing with his arms with a sweeping movement to indicate the clearing of the way for the Admiral.

Completely shocked and outnumbered the Admiral made one last comment as he left "You haven't heard the last of this!"

"Neither have you Admiral" Kort smirked and said under his breath so only the NCIS group could hear him.

They had all been so caught up with the confrontation that had been taking place no one had notice the flurry of activity that was taking place only a few metres away with several nurses and a junior doctor making their way hastily into a room just off the reception area. This changed with a frantic call from one of the nurses from the rooms door way

"Doctor Pitt – he's crashing!"

"Damn it, Tim!" Brad cursed, as he realised the room the nurse was in and what was happening, rushing towards the room with the rest of the group hot on his heels, only for them to be stopped by the same nurse as Brad got into the room

"Sorry but you can't go in there" she said firmly, whilst giving them a sympathetic and knowing smile

"Like hell I can't!" Gibbs growled as he pushed his way past, the nurse made an attempted to stop him, only to find herself being stopped by Tony shaking his head

"He just needs to tell Tim something" he explained firmly

The nurse watched in amazement as Gibbs leant over the young male patient, completely ignoring everything else going on in the room, and whispered in his ear

"You don't have permission to die son, fight Tim fight"

Satisfied he had gotten his message to his agent/son Gibbs straightened and rain his hand over Tim's forehead before quietly exiting the room.

Abby made a move to get herself a hug from Gibbs only to find herself stopped this time by Ziva as she manoeuvred herself into her path, successfully blocking Abby's chance.

"Move these people back to the waiting room and get them some fresh coffee from my stash before he blows a gasket!" brad instructed the receptionist/nurse, indicating to Gibbs, as he followed Tim's bed out of his room.

The group watched in silence as Tim's bed, surrounded by nurses and doctors, was moved down the corridor back to the OR. Once the double doors had closed behind the last nurse doors the group started to move back to the waiting area, only to realise that Gibbs wasn't following them, and was in fact still looking at the doors. The anger that be so vivid on his face only moments before was gone, replaced with apprehension of what was happening to his youngest agent.


	14. Chapter 14 Waiting Room 20

******Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters**.**

**Chapter 14 Waiting Room 2.0**

The group had been a back in the waiting room for nearly fifteen minutes, though none of them had made a move to sit down, when the quiet was broken by Abby who was a little more than frustrated right now.

"Gibbs should be here!"

"Abigail, please" Ducky said pensively "Gibbs just needs time to process everything"

"But he should be here, we need him. I need him!" Abby was practically shouting

"Abby!" Ziva admonishment was harsh but quietly spoken "You're not going to put your needs first at a time like this!"

"But….."

"No Abby, Ziva's and Ducky are right. Just because you're the favourite doesn't mean that you can have your own way all the time" Tony exasperated "You may have known about the abuse for the last nine years but we didn't! Do you have any idea how that feels?"

"I…..

"No Abby! My god I spent years pulling pranks on him, teasing him constantly about everything from his stutter to his weight for crying out loud! God he must hate me so much!"

"He doesn't hate anyone Tony, he doesn't know how to" Jimmy spoke almost as quietly as Ziva but everyone heard him

"Jimmy's right Tony" Ziva agreed rubbing her had up and down Tony's back in a soothing manner.

"What you all must realise is that Gibbs has always believed that Tim had a strong loving family background, unlike the rest of you, and he has used this as a reason to keep Tim at arm's length. Finding out now that this has been anything but the truth is going to make him feel, wrongly, that he should have done more, right now" Ducky explained as he tried to enlighten the young members of the group

"How could he when he didn't know Ducky!" Tony exploded irritated

"Because I didn't take the time" Gibbs stated calmly from the door way which he was leaning against.

Abby made a move but the rest of them stopped her, before she had chance

"Jethro?" Fornell question, brought him into the conversation

"I didn't make the time, I didn't make sure he realised that he could talk to me" Gibbs was irritated, but they could tell it was directed at himself

"But your doors always open Bossman" Abby stated factually and this made Tony twig

"Problem was that was to general – Tim didn't see it as an actual invitation, because he doesn't think like that"

"You are correct Tony" Ziva agreed with the assessment "But McGee has also never been one to put his needs first. Jethro is a prime example"

Getting a confused look from just about everyone in the room Ziva sighed in defeat but continued to explain "The dog!"

"Ah, I see where your heading with this Ziva and you are quiet correct young lady" Ducky smile at the intuition that Ziva was showing

"I don't understand, what's that damned dog got to do with any of this?" Gibbs growled, he still hated the fact that Abby had named the mutt after him

"Bossman!?" Abby didn't appreciate Gibbs tone or the way he talked about Jethro

"Everything Jethro, but it's not just the dog, there have been several instances were Tim would have appreciated your support but you put others first and I'm not just talking about Abby, you've done it to Tim with Tony and Ziva also, though it has happened more often with Abby" Ducky reasoned, both Tony and Ziva looked guilty as they realised he was stating the truth.

"So you're say that because I just stood there and said nothing as Abby bullied him into taking that damn animal, Tim didn't think that he could come to me and that's not the only time when I should have been more supportive or put a stop to things, is that it?" Gibbs snapped back

"Favouritism is a difficult thing Jethro and Timothy's been putting up with it since he was a small child, support is something he doesn't expects to receive from figures of authority. You're more like his father in that regard than you may realise"

"I am nothing like that fowl man!" Gibbs growled

"Not in many ways and Timothy realises this Jethro, but in this one area your exactly the same"

"I'm not listening to this!" Gibbs vowed before he turned to storm off only to find his path blocked by two men entered the waiting room

"Gibbs sit down" Vance ordered

"Can we help you?" Kort queried from the corner he had been standing in the whole time.

"I'm Sorry to bother you but we're looking for a Miss Sciuto and a Commander Jacobs, we were informed we could find them here" said the taller of the two men explained

"That would be me and this is Miss Sciuto, what can we do for you?" Commander Jacobs said as he stepped forward indicating to Abby who was to his right

"Well it's more what we can do for you" replied the man cryptically

"And that would be?" Sacks enquired

"I'm sorry I haven't introduced us, my names John Brown, I'm from the Navy's Engineering Lab and this is Professor Sidle from MIT"

"Oh, err Mr Brown is the guy that I called regarding the stuff on the hard drive" Abby explained to the group

Taking up the story John Brown explained more to the others "The algorithm's an asset of the navy, but officially it's not owned by the Navy as it wasn't designed by anyone who works at the lab. It was in fact designed by an MIT student about sixteen years ago. When I couldn't get hold of the guy from the contact details I have I contacted the Professor to see if he had more up to date information"

At this point the Professor Sidle joined the conversation "The young man that design this algorithm was a student of mine at the time, just starting his second year. The navy approach us with a challenge which we intern gave to the students, no one really expected anything to come from it, but this student was brilliant and that algorithm was so simplistic in its complexity it was amazing"

"So did you manage to get hold of this guy" Fornell questioned

"Er, no he's not answering, but he sometimes can't because of his job"

"What exactly does this man do, which means he can't answer his phone?" Tony queried as the idea sounded ridiculous to him

"Well he's a federal agent, never seems to work stable hours, but he always returns his calls so it just a case of waiting until he's free, but we can try and help you out in the meantime" The professor explained

"Sorry to interrupt" Dr Pitt poked his head round the door

"Brad – how is he?" Tony asked immediately forgetting about the case

"We managed to get him back, the reason he crashed again was due to the fact that his kidney had started bleeding out again. This along with another bleed that we failed to spot early put too much strain on his system"

"So?"

"So we've had to remove his kidney and his appendix" Brad explained

"And?" Ziva questioned worriedly

"Ziva - Tim will make a full recovery, it will just take longer than we had hoped" Brad reassured

"How much longer?" Gibbs enquired

"Well hospital wise, he'll be here for a longer time for observation. Living with one kidney isn't unusual Agent Gibbs. Actually one in about every 750 people are born with only one kidney, but when one is surgically removed it is necessary to monitor things closely for the first few weeks, after that his blood pressure, urine output and kidney function will require yearly checks"

Relief took hold of the team as the new sunk in, wiping his hand over his face Tony caught site of the clock in the waiting room for the first time

"Oh crap!"

"DiNozzo?"

"I'm suppose to be meeting Agent Sanders in like twenty-five minutes, sorry boss it completely slipped my mind" Tony cringed

"Okay well there's no point us all staying here like this anyway, go back to the yard, work with Balboa – do everything by the book take Ziva with you"

"Yes Boss"

"Yes Gibbs

"I should head in to" Vance stated "Miss Sciuto, I'm sure all the evidence is now back at the yard I think you should head back too"

"What! No, I'm not leaving"

"Miss Sciuto, I understand your desire to stay but from what we been informed, not only just now but earlier, Agent McGee is not going to be awake for quite some time and your skills are needed" Vance reasoned

"But…."

"Abby just go, Ducky and I will call if there's any change"

"Sorry to interrupt, but did you say McGee? As in Timothy McGee" Professor Sidle enquired

"The one and the same way?" Tony queried

"Because it was Timothy McGee who designed the algorithm"


	15. Chapter 15 Waking

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 15 Waking**

"You mean he knew what was on that hard-drive all along and why didn't he say anything?" Tony said in disbelief, he had just been collecting his jacket off the chair, getting ready to leave

"What!? No, that's not what I'm saying!" Professor Sidle responded in shock at the accusation, but before he could continue Mr Brown entered the conversation

"Let me explain something Mr…?"

"DiNozzo, Special Agent Antony DiNozzo"

"The algorithm is just a small part of the computer program that was created by Mr McGee"

"That's Agent McGee to you Mr Brown" Tony Snapped

"Tony calm down, Tim didn't even see the algorithm it was encrypted remember?" Ziva stepped into the fray

"Agent DiNozzo, you need to understand that when this program was developed there was no such thing as portable hard-drive, yet alone one that was big enough to hold any part of the program, that hard-drive is 500gb in size and only contains the algorithm that's embedded within the program"

"Is this really the most appropriate place to be having this discussion?" Fornell asked

"For once, as much as it pains me, I would have to agree with Fornell, this isn't the place for this conversation" Kort said as he tilted his head in the direction of the window, everyone followed his indication to see Admiral McGee pacing, between cars in the parking area, obviously having a heated discussion with someone over the phone.

"Right then…" Vance started as his phone rang, looking annoyed he answer

"Vance…What…..?…When…..?...I need two of your team here immediately, we will finish this discussion when I get to the yard!" During the conversation Vance's voice had notably gone from that of being annoyed to angry with a strong hint of concern.

"Leon?" Gibbs immediately queried as the Director shutdown his phone, when Vance looked at him he was clearly try to think of the best way in which to relay the information he had just learnt, he pinched the top of his nose before speaking

"That was Agent O'Neill, apparently we don't have all members of the gang"

"What!"

"As far as they can tell there's two possibly three not accounted for"

"Well isn't that just peachy" Tony said sarcastically

"Then we need to stay here" Ziva stated

"That's not necessary, Agent David, Agent O'Neill is sending over two of his agents"

"But McGee's ours to protect" Ziva argued

"We protect our own Director" Tony stated at the same time

"DiNozzo, Ziva, sort out Agents Sanders, then get some sleep, be back here at nineteen hundred hours. Commander Jacobs take the Professor and Mr Brown with you and see if you can find out what's going on the hard-drive thing, Abby you need to get started on the evidence then help the Commander" Gibbs barked out the orders

"And what exactly will you be doing Agent Gibbs?" Vance enquired

"Staying here of course" Gibbs responded, as if it was completely obvious

"Funny thing is I thought I was the one in charge of the agency" Vance stated clearly annoyed

"Not leaving him unprotected Leon"

"And two agents isn't enough?"

"My agent, my team, director, they can be outside the room - I'll be inside, just like Tony and Ziva will be tonight"

"Jethro you need sleep too" Ducky stated

"I'm not the one that's just had major surgery Duck, I'll be fine"

"Of course you will" Ducky replied in a knowing tone and smile

Shaking his head Vance decided it was probably best not to argue with Gibbs whilst he was still in full protection mode "Fine, you can stay Gibbs, Dr Mallard I'd like you to stay also, the rest of you back to the yard there's work to be done"

"If Gibbs gets to stay, I'm staying too!" Abby stated in defiance

"No Abby you're not! You can visit him quickly then you're going back to deal with the evidence and the hard-drive with Commander Jacobs" Gibbs retorted in a do not even think about arguing back tone.

**- NCIS -**

The team followed Doctor Pitt to McGee's room but before they entered Brad stopped them, to issue a warning to all of them but he made a point of looking at Abby as he spoke as he hadn't like what he had heard in the waiting room, either time.

"He still sedated, I'd like to keep it that way and let him wake up naturally, so any trouble from any of you I'll have you removed" and when Abby went to argue he continued "Don't even think about it" and with that he entered the room holding the door open to allow entry.

Seeing their teammate/friend/surrogate son for the first time since the basement was a shock. Tim who is naturally pale at the best of times had a complexion that was only slight warmer than what the team was used to see on the bodies that graced autospy.

"Oh, Timothy" Ducky stated as he moved to look at Tim's chart, before starting to do his own examination

Gibbs followed behind Ducky before he made his way to the other side of the bed, pulling up the only available chair next to the bed before straddling it and placing his hand gently on Tim's lower right arm, not saying anything whilst he waited for the rest of the group to say their bit and leave.

Out of the four younger members of the group they had all expect Abby to be the first to bound over to Tim's bed, but she just stood in the door way and whimpered before bolting from the room. Shaking his head at her antics Tony went first bending down to speak, but loud enough for everyone to hear, into Tim's ear whilst ruffling his hair

"Man, McGoo, don't ever scare us like that again. Okay, look bud, you just concentrate on getting better, we'll have this all sorted in no time and then everything can get back to normal." He pause for a moment looking at Gibbs as if approval, only to receive the briefest nod "Alright Probie, I better go sort out our resident Goth girl, so I guess I'll see you later"

Tony stepped back and then exited the room allowing Ziva a moment and she followed his example, the only difference being that she kiss Tim's cheek rather than playing with his hair

"McGee, my friend, we are here for you, you don't need to worry, I promise no one will hurt you anymore" with a nod to Gibbs she also exited the room leaving

Jimmy stepped up to the bed but didn't make any effort to bend over his friend, just rest his hand on the side of the bed

"I'll be back later, to check on you Tim" he said simply looking uneasy at being allowed this time, with a nod to Ducky he made his way out the room head bowed in worry

"Well Agent McGee,… Tim you're in good hands so I'll leave you to rest, Gibbs keep me updated" Vance said before he too left the room leaving behind Dr Pitt with Gibbs and Ducky who seemed to have settle into an unease silence, both deep in thought about the earlier confrontations that had taken place in the waiting room. Apparently satisfied the two older men weren't about to kill each other, Brad finished his observations and left the room quietly and unnoticed.

**- NCIS -**

It was early evening when a soft a soft moan that emanated from Tim's lips as he started to come too from the anaesthetic, instantly waking Gibbs from his slumber in the chair located beside Tim's bed

"It appears young Timothy is waking up right on time" Ducky stated from the end of the bed as he studied Tim's chart, which he had already studied multiple times since he and Gibbs had fallen into an uneasy alliance, after the earlier confrontation. Another moan slipped from Tim's lips as he attempted to move.

"McGee?"

"Timothy?"

"Ouch" the comment was soft and hardly audible, but the scrunched up face spoke volumes to both older men

"You in pain Timothy?" Ducky asked

"Daft question Ducky course he's in pain!" Gibbs retorted

"Boss?"

"Yeah Tim"

"Where the pain Timothy?" Ducky enquired as he pushed the call button so he could alter the hospital staff that Tim was now awake, but Tim didn't seem to hear him as he completely focused on Gibbs

"Why Boss?"

"Still working on that McGee"

"Timothy you shouldn't worry about that right now, you just need to focus on getting better. Now where's the man young man?" Tim's hesitation to answer the question spoke volumes.

"Answer the damn question McGee"

"Jethro!" Ducky admonished and a guilty look flashed over Gibbs face, Tim watched the exchange confused by what was happening

"Side and back, Ducky" he finally admitted just as Brad entered the room

"Ah, Tim good to see you awake" Brad greeted

"Brad?"

"Yeah Tim, Agent Gibbs, Ducky can I have a moment with Tim" Brad requested, this startled Tim and he attempted to rise from the bed in his still groggy state, not really noticing that the move wasn't really going to get him anywhere as he had one arm wrapped and strapped across his chest.

"Brad, what is it, what's wrong?" Tim wasn't able to control his voice and even though question was slurry his anxiety along with the pain showed

"Easy Timothy, Brad just wants to go over a few thing with you, I sure you it's nothing you can't handle, besides Jethro and I need a discussion of our own" Ducky said as he reassured the young man. Gibbs rest a hand on Tim's shoulder

"Relax Tim, we'll be back in a moment" Gibbs comforted getting Tim to immediately lay back down, before he and Ducky exited the room

"Brad?"

"Just need to go over what's happened with you Tim so you understand all the implications, but first lets sort out some pain relief shall we"

**- NCIS -**

After several minutes of silence between the two of them Ducky finally bit the bullet and started talking.

"Really Jethro there was no need to speak to Timothy like that" Ducky admonished "He has enough to be dealing with right now"

"Hell, Ducky I didn't mean it like that" Gibb faltered as he ran his hand through his hair

"Well you need to start thinking about how Timothy will be taking your little outburst. He wouldn't openly admit to how much pain he was in, in front of you of all people Jethro!"

"Why not, none of this is his fault Ducky!"

"I realise that, even if at this time Timothy may not see it that way right now"

"Not tracking you Ducky"

"Timothy, knows your feelings towards showing weakness of any sort, couple that with how he needs to continually prove himself, and recent events should tell you that right know he's more than just a little fragile"

"Duck!" at that moment Brad stepped out of Tim's room

"Ah - Brad how is young Timothy?" Ducky enquired

"He's concerned about how all this will affect his career, more importantly his status as a field agent especially the leg injury, but right now he's worried about something he really shouldn't be" Brad answered cryptically

"Like what, Doc?" Gibbs enquired

"You two"

"What!"

"He's worried because you're snapping at each other. As his doctor I advise you that whatever is going on between you needs to stop right now! If you can't put his needs first then there no point in either of you being here" lecture finished Brad walk off.


	16. Chapter 16 Problems with Abby

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 16 Problems with Abby**

Several quiet minutes passed before either man tried to talk again after Dr Pitt's admonishment of their behaviour towards one another and the worry it was causing his patient.

"Jethro….." Ducky ventured

"No, Duck, don't, you're right as always, I get it" Gibbs sighs "Actually I don't" he confuses in the next breath

"Don't understand what my friend?"

"Why he allows us – me – to treat him like that! Why he put up with it, why he feels he has to do everything alone, that he has to be strong all the time!"

"Because it all I ever known, because the last thing I want is for you to feeling sorry for me" The voice was soft and filled with pain, but it had both of the older men turning as one to face a very pale Tim, clutching both his IV pole and the door handle in one hand.

"Heavens Timothy! My lad, what an earth are you doing out of bed!" Ducky exclaimed just as Tim started to move his hand away from the door handle toward the door frame, he swayed slightly causing him to miss his target, overbalancing in the process

"McGee!" Gibbs sprang into action moving quickly to intercept the young man as he fell, catching him just in time to break the fall.

Tim moaned softly as Gibbs adjust himself to allow Tim to gain a more comfortable position. Pain and exhaustion were clearly written all over his face as Gibbs gently brushed his hand down one side.

"What were you thinking?" Gibbs asked softly as Ducky after again a nurses attention, knelt down next to the pair

"You shouldn't be worrying about others right now Timothy" Ducky stated simple before Tim could respond, just as the nurse arrived "Ah, yes could you please summon Dr Pitt whilst, we get this young man back to bed?"

Apparently satisfied with the nurse's reply Ducky turned his attention back to Gibbs and Timothy "Shall we?" and with a nod from Gibbs they started gathering Tim up to get him back on the bed.

Minutes later Dr Pitt hastily arrived in the room just as Ducky was starting to check Tim over

"What the hell happen?" He demanded

"It would seem that young Timothy was more concerned about us, than his own health, I think it's best if we check his stitches on his back and side to make sure he not undone all your good work Brad" Ducky replied calmly as he gently coaxed Tim to lay on his side so he could look at his back

"Honestly you agents never fail to amaze me!" Brad exasperated as he moved round to join Ducky to inspect Tim's back and side

Twenty minutes later and apparently satisfied that Tim's little adventure had done no harm Dr Pitt had left the room but not before giving Tim both some more pain relief and a firm warning that Tim was not to try anything like it again.

**- NCIS -**

Feeling drowsy Tim didn't attempt to join in the quiet conversation Ducky and Gibbs were now having about him, as he calm around from his latest sleepy state, until he heard the dulcet tones of Ziva David

"How is he?" she enquired, opening his eyes he could just make her out in the dim light of the door way, with Tony and the Director behind her

"He's sleepy" Tim replied

"Probie my man you're awake!" Tony exclaimed excitedly as he stated the obvious as Tim began to manoeuvre to sit up

"Timothy" Ducky's stated in a warning tone

"Just want to sit up a bit Ducky, I promise no getting out of bed" Tim replied sheepishly

"Wait you got out of bed? You shouldn't be doing that so soon" Vance voice was full of concern.

The newly arrived members listen intently as Gibbs explained what had happened only a short time ago as Ducky relented and adjusted Tim's bed slightly to enable him to be in a slightly more raised position, but far short of the actual sitting position Tim had hoped to achieve.

"McGee! You are foal hardy my friend!" Ziva admonished him gently as the tale ended, cupping his face in her hands before kissing him gently on the cheek, before Gibbs ordered a sitrep, so as not to allow anymore comments to be made on the subject, knowing full well that Tim was already feeling bad enough about it after being just as gently by chastised both Ducky and himself, before he had temporarily drifted off.

"Ah, may be this would be better outside boss" Tony said hesitantly as he looked over at Tim, unsure how well Tim would take the news

"Not going to hear anything worse than I what I've already been told Tony" Tim said simply

Considering what his agent had said and what Kort had informed him in their private conversation, prior to his departure, made Gibbs decision easy

"Let here it"

"Okay well, Sanders brought us the evidence and all the notes from the Camero 'accident'"

"How'd you?….You were already looking into that?" Tim asked unsure

"Er, yeah Probie"

"Oh"

"Well, there's not much to go on but, Sanders said that the agent, Agent Parker, heading up the original investigation, went to see the family and when he came back he simply closed the case. But what's really interesting is that less than a year later he was dismissed for taking backhanders"

"Back to the present, two of the gang are definitely still missing boss, Balboa and O'Neil worked up a couple of the gang got the spilling the beans, so to speak and with that we can confirm that Karl Kenning and some guy named bulldog, yeah go figure, are the two still out there. Anyway we've got a BOLO out and agents from the FBI are canvassing their known local hangouts, but nothing as of yet"

"In that case it's a good thing we've got agents on the door then"

"That's not all Gibbs, we took the opportunity to visit Kennings apartment, ransack would be an understatement, it looks like that's the primary scene for Kennings murder, we've given the evidence to Abby"

"How's she doing with the evidence from last night?" Vance asked

"You don't know?" Gibbs asked in disbelief

"Been kinda busy with other problems" Vance responded

"Yeah like what?"

"Well it seems that Admiral McGee's decided that he want's whoever shot Nathan to be suspended for several months without pay, at the very least, and it appears he's got some pretty influencing friends, Secretary Jarvis and I have been fielding calls all day" Vance sighed in frustration as he pinched his nose

"What!?, he can't do that can he?" Tim queried concerned for his colleagues and friend that had help him.

"Unfortunately, McGee, that's not the worst of it" Vance stopped realising he let slip something he hadn't intended

"Care to share, Leon" Gibbs press

"The Admirals, convinced that Nathan is innocent of what he's being charged with and that the only reason he was there at all was to save Tim, so he's requested Tim's badge"

"He's what!" Gibbs shouted

"He….He….." Tim couldn't get the words out as he started to hyperventilate

"Easy, Timothy" Ducky soothed "Nice slow and even breathes, that's it"

"Not happening, McGee" Gibbs reassured, before shooting a glare that if looks could have killed would have ensured he was dead.

"Of course not!" Vance "Neither action is, Secretary Jarvis, had already seen the tape, before he received any calls regarding what happened, lord knows how, apparently it was waiting for him, on his desk when he arrived this morning"

"Kort" Gibbs stated simply as he watched Tim slowly calm down again, at the reassurance received, and started yawning

"Okay, so back to the evidence" Vance said

"Yeah, we got a problem, Boss" Tony stated looking from the boss to McGee and back again, only to receive a raised eyebrow in reply

"Abby, is throwing a huff" Ziva spoke up in frustration as Tony hesitated to give an answer

"Strop, it's called a strop, Ziva" Tony exasperated

"Huff, strop what's the difference? She's sulking like a spoilt five year old" Ziva responded making sure her dislike of Abby's behaviour known.

"Great" Gibbs muttered

"Should have seen that one coming, Jethro" Ducky stated simply

"Yeah your right, but I'll have to deal with it in the morning" Gibbs said resignedly

"What about the hard-drive? Have you guys got any further with that?" asked through yet another yawn

"Not much, but you Probie, you've got some explaining to do" Tony responded with a smirk on his face but Ziva had noticed how Tim was tiring

"But not tonight my friend" Ziva soothed, Tim got concerned

"What aren't you guy's telling me?"

"No, Ziva's right we're not discussing this tonight, you need rest Timothy" Ducky stepped in

"Agreed, Ziva your on duty tonight"

"Boss?" Tony queried

"If you stay here, you're going to talk, McGee needs rest. We all do, we'll discuss the hard-drive tomorrow, but you can come back at six am, whilst I go sort out Abby"

Gibbs noticed Tim wanting to argue, so he gently rested his hand on the young agents shoulder in an effort to reassure him

"Rest"

"But" came the groggy and sleepy response.

"No, no but's, rest" Gibbs replied gently, looking at concern Ducky with concern

"No, problems Jethro, the next round automatic medication, is taking effect" Ducky replied pointing to the IV computerised delivery system, as Tim's eyes closed and his body showed obvious signs of relaxing.

"Okay everyone out" Ziva stated with a smile on her face "It's time for me to spend some quality time with my brother"

**- NCIS -**

It was by unspoken agreement that Gibbs and Ducky met the next morning at headquarters to tackle Abby together, to get answers regarding her sulky behaviour.

They entered her lab to the normal loud music and watched as Abby moved about workspace completely ignoring the boxes stacked on the middle table, as she worked on other cases.

"Abby" Gibbs said as he turned down the music

"Oh hey" Abby replied as she turned to see them before turning her attention back to the computer, which didn't sit well with Gibbs

"What doing Abby?" He questioned trying to remain calm

"Working, what else would I be doing?" She replied sarcastically, keeping her back towards them

"On what?" Ducky requested

"Agent Kent's case"

"So the stuff on the table?" Gibbs pushed

"Not got to it yet"

"Abby" Gibbs huffed

"What?" Abby questioned finally turning to face them

"We need the items here worked on for the Kennings case" Ducky jump in before Gibbs had a chance, whilst indicating to the table

"Oh, so now you want me?" Abby replied with a tone of innocence that didn't sit well with either man

"Abigail!" Ducky admonished in shock attitude

"What!" Abby demanded

"Why aren't you working on the Kenning case!" Gibbs growled

"Oh so I'm just supposed to put that first no matter what?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well I thought I'd change my favourite agents around, just like someone else we know" Abby stated simply as she turned back to her work, picking up the remote and turning up the music even louder than it was before.


	17. Chapter 17 Torched

Wow thank you guys so much for your brilliant comments on the last chapter - really wasn't sure you would like what I did with Abby's Character.

Just a big thank you also to everyone who has marked the story as a favourite or is following, hope I can keep you all happy.

* * *

******Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters

**Chapter 17 Torched**

"Hi, how's he doing? He sleep okay?" Tony asked quietly as he slipped into Tim's room, noticing the young agent looked like he was sleeping

"I wish he had" Ziva replied sadly, just as quietly, receiving a puzzled look from Tony she continued "He's had a rough night, and not much sleep because of it"

"But he's sleeping now, that's good" Tony try to sound reassuring

"Actually he's not" McGee said as his eyes fluttered open

"McGee!" Ziva admonished gently "You need to sleep"

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know" Tim replied sarcastically, as he winced whilst trying to sit up, Ziva immediately grabbed the controls, raising the bed to a comfortable level, McGee gave her a weak smile in appreciation.

"So why aren't you sleeping McGoo?"

"Too much thinking" Tim replied

"Too much worrying more like" Ziva corrected

"Can't help it, it will happen you know" McGee stated with a shrug

"What will?" Tony questioned

"McGee is convinced the Admiral will get his way" Ziva informed Tony making a face when she said 'the Admiral'

"Okay, you can stop that over analysing brain right there Probie, Vance and SecNav have both said it's not going to happen so it's not going to happen" Tony stated firmly

"But…."

"Not happening Probie"

"Tony!"

"Okay enough already!" Ziva decided to step in and take charge of the situation before it got out of hand.

"Tim try and sleep some more, Gibbs will be here soon enough, and there's lots for us to discuss but that's not gone happen until you get some more rest. Tony why don't you see if Tim can have something to eat and drink then go and get us all something"

**- NCIS -**

That did it, Gibbs snatched the remote control from Abby's hand, turned off the music before throwing the item across the room, causing it to smash into pieces.

"Hey!" Abby exclaimed

"Ziva's right you're behaving like a spoilt sulking five year old!" Gibbs growled

"So what!"

"You're acting up just because I giving someone else on the team attention and not you! Just because you're used to getting your own way doesn't mean that the other members of my team need to be sacrificed when they need me! You aren't a child Abby. You're an adult and you should know better!" By now Gibbs hand either hand placed firmly on Abby's shoulders forcing her to face him

"Why's everyone making such a fuse it just Timmy!" Abby sulked

"Oh for the love of god! You just don't get it do you!" Gibbs exclaimed letting go and moving away from her

"Get what? That all of a sudden McGee is more important than the rest of us? You never supported him because he has family, unlike Me, Tony and Ziva! Why has that suddenly changed just because the Admiral here!"

"It's not that Tim is suddenly more important than everyone else but right now he needs us more" Gibbs tried to reason

"Oh well that makes everything alright then doesn't it" Abby replied sarcastically

"Abigail please consider that unlike you, we were not aware of the any of Tim abusive history until less than seventy two hours ago. It puts a different perspective on things, this you must understand" Ducky reason as he saw Gibbs struggling with how to explain things

"Why because his father took a stud belt to his back a few times for misbehaving?" Abby state in disbelief mockingly "Every parent disciplines kids that misbehave!"

"Abigail, I do believe you do not know all the facts regarding our young Timothy's relationship with his father and cousin" Ducky stated sadly as both men realised Tim had told her very little.

"I really couldn't care a less about Tim's relationship issues! None of what's happens justifies the way I've been treated!"

"Abigail!"

"Right that's it I've heard enough of this rubbish" Gibbs exploded grabbing at the boxes of evidence "Ducky grab a couple of boxes will yeah, we take them to Anderson's Lab and I'll talk to Vance about changing our Lab Tech over on a permit basis!"

Storming out with Ducky trailing behind neither man saw the look of astonishment on Abby's face.

**- NCIS -**

After dropping the evidence in Anderson's lab Gibbs and Ducky made their way silently to the elevator heading for the bullpen, for their second pre-planned stop, for an update. Once they were alone Ducky pulled a Gibbs by flicking the emergency switch and asking the question that had been bugging him

"Well that could have gone better. Are you really going to do this?"

Gibbs sighed in frustration as he ran his hand through his hair

"Yeah it could have been better and I know that some of Abby behaviour is my fault for indulging her in the past, but right now I could head-slap her so hard that her grandchildren's, grandchildren would feel it."

"I understand how you feel" Ducky sympathised

"To answer your question I don't want to, right now Anderson's a temporary solution because we need answers. Long term it's not good for the team to have someone who thinks their more important than anyone else no matter what's going on"

"So you're bluffing?"

"Well let's just say that I hope Abby gets the wakeup call I just sent, because if Vance has to step in, the disciplinary measures for a lab tech for delaying a case is not good" Gibbs replied as he flicked the elevator back on signalling the end of the conversation.

**- NCIS -**

Tony was walking back to Tim's room with a tray of coffee and breakfast for three, when he saw the Admiral arrive, looking none too happy. Deciding it was best not only to avoid the man but not be seen by him, Tony increased his approach to Tim's room.

Once inside Tony handed over the tray to Ziva before using the pull cords on the blinds for both the doors window and observation window, to a close.

"Tony?" Ziva questioned

"The Admirals just arrived" Tony explained

"Great! Two guesses as to what he's doing here" Tim stated sarcastically

"Probably not what you're thinking Probie" Tony reply as he hand over Tim's coffee before grabbing the bed table and putting Tim's plate on it

"Why else would he be here?" Tim asked

"You haven't told him yet?" Tony looked at Ziva in surprise

"I thought it best to wait until Tim was stronger and that maybe Gibbs should tell him" Ziva reasoned

"Tell me what?" Tim questioned, looking back and forth between noticing the worried expression that passed between them.

"Tim you need to remain calm" Tony started

"Tony!"

"Alright but it nothing for you to be concerned about, but Nathan's in a room just over the other side of ICU"

"What? Why?"

"Well he hasn't been stable enough to move to the prison hospital yet"

"Just how badly hurt was he?" Tim queried

"Haven't really cared enough to find out" Tony answered honestly

"It's not your concern either, McGee. Now eat" Ziva stated firmly

**- NCIS -**

Gibbs and Ducky arrived in the bullpen to find only agent Balboa Probie and Commander Jacobs present. After seeing the queried look of Gibbs face the Commander took the opportunity to explain the reason for the missing agents

"Er, they got a call out, something about a fire at an agent's apartment and the FBI have had a hit on the BOLO for the missing gang members"

Gibbs was just about to ask for more details when the elevator indicated its arrival and the turned to see Agent Balbo and O'Neill.

"Gibbs, thought you'd be at the hospital" O'Neil stated

"Going there next, just wanted an update" Gibbs replied

"Well we have good and bad news on that front" Balboa answered

"Care to explain?"

"Well, I'm going to start with the good news, Kennings and Bulldog are now in custody, thanks to a hit on the BOLO and our friends at the FBI"

"And the bad news?" Ducky asked

"McGee apartments been torched" O'Neill stated simply when Balboa looked lost for words

"What!" Gibbs barked

"Looks deliberate. We've left the remaining team members there to get any evidence and speak with the neighbours, none of whom were hurt than goodness" Balboa informed trying to pacify Gibbs

"Was it Kennings?" Gibbs demanded

"No the FBI had them in custody, the other side of town, just before we even got that call" O'Neill enlighten

"Any idea's who?"

"Not at this time but an elderly neighbour said she saw someone in dark suit walking away from the building"

Gibbs ran his hand through his hair in frustrations, this was the last thing McGee needed right now and Gibbs didn't like the idea of being the one to have to tell him.

"Okay, well I'll leave you guys to it, Oh and I suggest you tell your guys to give any evidence to Anderson"

Both O'Neill and Balboa looked at Gibbs with confusion but said nothing, before he and Ducky moved to leave for the hospital


	18. Chapter 18 Sub Section 25 Alpha Delta

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 18 Sub Section 25 Alpha Delta **

After breakfast was finished Tony used the excuse of needing to return the cutlery and plates to the canteen, to slip out the room and find out more information regarding Nathan, not that he was going to tell his Probie anything unless it became absolutely necessary. Just as he was about to make his way back in Gibbs and Ducky arrived both looking stressed.

"Boss?" Tony queried

Gibbs sighed "Later DiNozzo"

"Jethro we need to go in there calmly, upsetting Tim at the moment could be detrimental to his recovery" Ducky advised

"Well you two can calm down out here, whilst I give McGee his morning check-up" Brad stated as he came up to the group.

"Ah, Brad good idea" Ducky agreed, moving out of the way of the door so Brad could slip into the room. Moments later Ziva was came out of the room looking somewhat disappointed

"It's not like I haven't seen a man naked before" she huffed, giving all three men a moments of light relief and appeared to be the calming effect they all needed.

"Yeah, but this is Probie we're talking about, he might have the heart of a lion, but he still gets embarrassed like a six year old girl" Tony laughed

**- NCIS -**

The group entered Tim's room once Brad finished his examination

"Well I'm pleased to say that Tim's doing exceptionally well, though I'm concerned about the lack of sleep Ziva mentioned, if nothing untoward happens in the next few hours I'll consider moving him out of ICU"

"That's a bit sooner than you said doc" Gibbs concern evident

"I like to play things safe Gibbs, I'd rather over estimate things, besides I find delivering good news like this always helps the patient" Brad explained before looking pointedly at Tim. Gibb's gaze followed and he smiled upon seeing Tim looking a lot more relaxed than the previous time he'd seen him. Brad took the opportunity to quietly exited the room.

"Hey McGee" he said with a smile as he made his way over and sat himself onto the edge of the bed in front of his young agent

"Boss" Tim replied with a small smile but a smile none the less

"How you feeling?"

"I'm okay" Tim replied

"Timothy you've been through the mill in the last 48 hours, there is no need to be brave in front of your friends" Ducky stated, everyone knowing that he was telling Tim to open up

McGee blushed slightly "Truthfully I ache and I'm a bit tired, but really I'm okay – the meds are helping"

"That's good to hear young man, but you need to inform us if any of this gets too much"

"Okay"

"We got a lot to talk about, McGee" Gibbs said gently

"What do you need to know boss"

"Well how about you start by telling us about the program you wrote for the Navy whilst at MIT" Gibbs suggested

"I don't understand what's that got to do with anything and how do you know…?" Tim was clearly puzzled

"Because Probie that's what was on the hard-drive" Tony jumped in only to receive a glare from Gibbs "Shutting up Boss"

"You need to get your facts right Tony" Gibbs admonished, before turning his attention back to Tim

"According to your professor the algorithm, part of your program was on the hard-drive, not the entire program" Gibbs corrected and explained quickly

"Oh"

"So the program?" Gibbs pushed gently

"Err, well it was a project boss, not part of the standard course, just something the professor thought might be challenging" Tim explained, before going quiet obviously getting lost in his own thoughts

"And?"

"Oh, sorry, well they liked the algorithm I did, so they presented it to the navy and they then asked me to write a program so that it could be installed on their computers and help get all the systems on broad, any of their vessels, to use one power source regardless of their individual voltage requirements, without damaging anything"

"Okay but why are you still their first point of call – are you paid for this, McGee?"

"What no Boss! It's not like that" Tim exclaimed

"Hey, it's okay, calm down, just explain it to me" Gibbs reassured realising his mistake and that Tim needed to take todays discussion at his own pace not anyone else

"They only call me if there's an or if a new piece of equipment is going to be installed and the program needs updating to accommodate it, but it's not something I'm paid for Boss and I only do it in my free time"

"Why an earth not!" Tony butted in

"Hey!" Gibbs growl

"Sorry Boss"

"Why not? Anyone who worked on the project had to sign an agreement stating that we understood that no payment would be received for any of the work done. I was seventeen Tony I was more interested in the challenge that was present than anything else. Didn't realise that there was a clause in the small print that meant I'd have to maintain the damn thing alright!" Tim responded in frustration

"Oh McGee" Ducky sympathised at the same moment as Ziva also spoke

"Is that legal" Ziva questions, before moving forward to give Tim a soothing hug whilst, shooting a glare at Tony just as Director Vance arrived, bring in Commander Jacobs with him

"Sorry I'm late got held up talking with Jarvis" he explained as he slipped further into the room

"It's okay Leon we've only just started" Gibbs responded giving a shake of the head when Vance gave him a look that asked if they'd told McGee about his apartment yet.

"Okay then, carry on" Vance said nodding at Gibbs that he still had a lead, Gibbs smirked before turning his attention back to Tim

"So how easy would it be for someone to extract the complete algorithm from the program?"

"It's not possible boss it's too deeply embedded"

"Tim the entire algorithm was on the hard drive" Commander Jacobs stated bring himself into the conversation

"That's not, no that's not possible…..oh wait what section do you think it was taken from?" Tim asked

"Section 25, sub section alpha delta, what I can't understand is way it's mentioned throughout the program Tim? Almost looks like your trying to tell anyone who looks at the program where the most vulnerable part is" Commander Jacobs questions before explaining his findings

Everyone was surprised when a smirk that turns into a smile and then full out laughter come from McGee as Commander Jacobs finishes.

"McGee?" Gibbs questions with a raised eyebrow watching the interaction of the two computer experts in the room as realisation seems to dawn on Jacobs face and Tim nods in a knowing response.

"Wait, that's what you wanted? You built in a sub section as a security measure?" the disbelief in the Commander voice was mixed in with admiration and respect

"Uh-huh" Tim reply

"Okay someone care to explain it to us simpletons, in the room" Tony asked irritably, completely confused.

"It's simple Tony, I laid a trap, just in case anyone got it into their head that they could manipulate the program to cause damage and it looks like somebody finally fell for it" Tim explained a little smugly

"More McGee" Gibbs ordered

"Okay this is how it is, the real algorithm isn't only deeply embedded, it's also spilt up throughout the program to ensure that it can never be tampered with. Remember a couple of months ago when you came in the office to find out I'd been there all night boss?"

"The Hemming Case?"

"Wasn't that about the time when you had that power surge in your apartments building and it blew all the electrics?" Tony asked as he remember the case

"Yeah it was Tony, and I kinda lied to you, boss" Tim stated with a small flinch as he saw the expression on Gibbs face

"You lied?" Gibbs growled

"Well yes and no" Tim stated

"McGee!"

"I told you that I'd been defragging a computer all night" Tim paused as he ran his free hand through his hair, with an 'oh boy' expression on his face, realising he was going to reveal his personal usage of his works computer not only to his boss but to the Director at the same time.

"But you didn't" Gibbs stated as he realised that this was probably the first time Tim has manage to lie and get away with it

"Actually I did run a defragging program, I just let you assume it was on my computers, instead of everyone else's"

"You ran a defrag program on all the teams computers except for yours? What on earth where you doing on your computers that took all night, Agent McGee?" Vance question in his best annoyed voice, whilst trying hard not to show just how impressed he was feeling of Tim at the moment.

"Re-writing one of the algorithm sections to enable a new piece of machinery to be installed. Brown had called a couple of nights before and I'd been working on it at home, I mean he wasn't happy when I told him my computer had just blown up because of some damn faulty wiring, because the deadline was so close. So I worked through the night to get it sorted."

"Actually, if I'm honest, it's easier to work on and install when in smaller chunks. Brown just tells me what they need, I get it sorted in my own time then go to the lab and update the version they keep there."

"You make it sound effortless" Jacobs states smiling

"Just simpler than re-writing the whole thing each time" Tim replied with a little shrug, which was followed by a small wince. Ziva immediately move to help Tim as he moved to get comfortable again.

"So what are we saying? Are we say that if someone altered the algorithm that was in that sub-section 25 whatever was, it wouldn't matter" Gibbs asked in frustration

"Yes Boss, that's exactly what I'm saying, altering the algorithm from within sub section 25 Alpha Delta wouldn't have any effect on the program or any of the systems Boss"

"So all this, all this damage to you has been for nothing" Ziva fumed as she, whilst indicating to Tim's injuries, making Tim blush slightly

"Wouldn't say it was completely for nothing Agent David" Vance stated with a smile on his face "We did manage to bring down an entire terrorist group because of it"

"Yes, but at what cost Director? Hmmm" Ducky queried looking sadly towards Tim

"Guys, I'm fine, it really not that bad" Tim

"McGoo, you're high on the good drugs and yeah it is that bad cause we nearly lost you twice" Tony corrected

"But we didn't and that the main thing" Ducky stated reassuring the entire group

"Err, boss can I ask a question?"

"You just did McGee, but go on" Gibbs replied jokingly to the young agent, he had a fair idea as to what was coming

"Where's Abby? I mean I know she was at that conference but if I got my dates right from everything you guys have said that end like yesterday, so why isn't she here? Have I done something?"

"Well that was just plain greedy McGee, cause that was three questions not one" Tony jump in, keeping his voice playful, before anyone else, trying to deflect the questions.

"Abby's at the lab McGee, there's a lot of evidence so she a little too busy to be visiting right now" Gibbs replied, with a slight edge to his voice which didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the room, the last thing he wanted was for McGee to be worry about was Abby, especially as she didn't seem to care about him.

"Okay I get that boss, but last night Tony said something about there being a problem with Abby"

"Not one for you to worry about young Timothy, besides there's something else we need to discuss with you right now" Ducky stepped, giving Gibbs a moment to recompose himself

"Like what Ducky?"

"Tim, I'm sorry son, but your flat was torched in the earlier this morning" Ducky said softly as Gibbs watched the reaction of all of his agents. Tim looked completely shocked, Ziva gasped in surprise before moving forward again to comfort the youngest member of the team. Tony however became incensed with anger, which also didn't go unnoticed by the other men in the room, with a nod to Ducky, Gibbs dragged Tony from the room before he had chance to explode.


	19. Chapter 19 A Theory and A Slip-up

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 19 A Theory and A Slip-up**

Gibbs marched Tony to the waiting room before confronting his senior field agent.

"Want to tell me what the hells going on DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded as Tony started passing the room

"Hey! Start talking now!" Gibbs shouted when he got no immediate reply, angry because right now he wanted to be with McGee not babysitting a senior agent having a hissy fit.

"The Admiral" Tony spat "It has to be the Admiral"

"What are you talking about Tony?"

Realising he needed to explain better Tony took a moment to compose himself and then started to explain

"McGee questioned why Nathan was still in ICU, something I really hadn't thought about until he brought it up, boss, but when he did I decided find out some information"

"I hope you weren't going to tell McGee what you found out DiNozzo, he's got enough on his plate right now" Gibbs stated

"No! Of course not boss, it just it's too much to be a coincidence"

"What is?"

"I spoke with one of the nurses, she told me that the Admiral had been here most of the night, causing problems because he still wasn't allowed in to see Nathan, but he left just before four this morning. I saw him, when I coming back from the canteen with breakfast for the three of us, I thought he had only just arrived"

"So?"

"Don't you get it boss?"

"Get what Tony? He probably just went somewhere to get changed"

"Boss he was gone for just over two hours, do you know what time the fire was called in?"

"Just a little after five am…" Gibbs voice trailed off as realisation of what Tony was saying suddenly kicked in

"From here, it's like just over an hour's drive to McGee's new apartment, the same back and enough time in between…" Tony didn't get to finish his comment before they were interrupted by Ziva

"Gibbs you need to come quickly!" she stated in urgency

"What?"

"Tim is trying to leave Gibbs, he's extremely emotional, but nothing we do seems' to be helping!" Ziva quickly explained before turning on her heals and heading back from were she had come from, momentarily stunned it took Tony and Gibbs a seconded or two before they run after the former Mossad agent.

**- NCIS -**

The scene that confronted Gibbs as he re-entered Tim's room would have been comical if the situation wasn't so serious. Tim was out of his bed, and trying his best to stand, blood was run down his free hand were he had somehow managed to remove the IV. Vance was on one side, Jacobs the other and Ducky in front all attempting to get Tim back on the bed, whilst Tim was determined to get away from them. Gibbs knew exactly what was needed, though he hated having to do it, at this precise moment in time to get his agent to give up the fight.

"Stand down Agent! That's an order" Gibbs barked

Immediately, Tim's eyes snapped on to Gibbs ice blue ones, the fight leaving him, Tim deflated as he suddenly crumpled into a fit of tears.

"Get Brad, Now Tony!" Gibbs barked at stunned Tony, before moving to Tim's side with a nod to Jacobs Gibbs took hold of McGee before gently manoeuvring him back onto the bed, with the help of Ducky, Ziva and Vance, so that he was laying comfortably into Gibbs, who had positioned himself so the beds headboard supported him. Gibbs spoke repeatedly, softly, to his agent trying to calm him down.

"It's okay Tim, everything's okay son, shh, it's alright"

Brad came skidding to a stop in the doorway with Tony close behind

"What the hell!?" He questioned as he took in the scene before him

"Ah Brad, I'm worried we've rather upset young Timothy here" Ducky explained

"You can say that again, Ducky" Brad answered sarcastically as he moved into the room to assess his patient.

"Yes well I'm afraid we had to deliver some rather bad news and Timothy didn't take it to well"

"Well you could have fooled me, I thought I told you that he wasn't to be upset right now - what the hell did you tell him?!"

"That his flat was torched this morning" Ziva stated calmly from the other side of the bed, where she was gently wiping Tim's now damaged hand, with a clean tissue in an effort to stop the bleeding and clear up the blood loss at the same time.

Brad looked shocked at the news, but move forward to start examining McGee vitals, before moving around the bed and taking McGee's hand from Ziva and carefully inserting the IV into the lower arm instead, watching the whole time as Gibbs softly spoken words seem to calm the young man

"Any idea as to why he got so upset?" Brad questioned only to receive completely blank rooms from all the others in the room "Okay well I'm going to give him a mild sedative, help calm him down and maybe get some of that sleep he needs"

Brad continued to monitor the equipment by Tim's bed for a few minutes more waiting for the sedative to take effect. Gibbs could feel Tim starting to relax against him as his eye started to close; he let out a sorrowful whisper that tour at the hearts of his team

"Jethro….K"

Stunned Gibbs looked at the rest of the group, to see equally shocked faces and the realisation appeared to dawn on all of them at the same time

"Damn it!" Gibbs growled softly whilst Tony swore and Ziva made some comment in Hebrew that was anyone's guess

"Oh my heavens" Ducky stated softly

Jacobs just looked completely confused "I don't understand?"

"His dog – we forgot about the damned dog!" Gibbs hissed

"What a minute" Tony said suddenly realising something "Wouldn't Jethro just be at the Kennels like normal?"

"No Tony, Jethro no longer goes to the Kennels anymore, not since…" Ziva voice trailed off as she realised she was about to reveal something that McGee may not have told the rest of the team.

"Not since what?" Tony questioned the Admiral temporarily forgotten.

"Not since he's been seeing Kristy, Antony" Ducky stepped in giving Ziva a reassuring smile, so she knew that she didn't have to be the one to tell Tony and Gibbs

"Wait a sec, your telling me that Probie's finally got himself a girlfriend" Tony stated in surprise trying not to laugh at the thought, before he saw the serious look on both Ducky's and Ziva's faces.

"Actually yes Antony, I would be saying that and as far as young Timothy here is concerned Kristy is a keeper" Ducky stated seriously

"No offence Ducky, but that still doesn't explain why the dog's not at the Kennels" Gibbs responded

"Kristy picks Jethro up in the mornings and drops him home at night, because she works at the Heath Fields Animal Sanctuary, Jethro is free to romp about outside all day, Gibbs" Ziva informed

"Okay – but how come you two know about this yet Boss and I don't" Tony responded almost sulkily

"Well I know because, Breena and Jimmy set young Timothy up with Kristy and I was fortunate enough to meet the young lady when Kristy had a small accident with a horse kicking her in the lower leg. Tim wasn't happy with the doctors original assessment, so he requested a second opinion, lucky too considering young Kristy had a fracture and I believe Ziva ran into them accidently one day" Ducky explain.

"In the mall shopping, about four months ago" Ziva clarified

"Kristy, who?" Gibbs questioned "Wait that second word, wasn't going to be kennels was it?"

"Kristy Slater, Breena's twin sister, not that you'd know it, as they are definitely not identical twins. Young Timothy's been seeing her for about six months now, they are very happy together, and no I don't believe it was." Ducky stated sadly, as he looked at the now sleeping form of Timothy still leaning back into Gibbs. "It will break his heart if anything bad has happened to her."

Gibbs glanced back down at his young agent, the boy he very much saw as his youngest, he'd been so much already, and not just in the last few days, but always seemed to manage to bounce back – but could losing this new person in his life, be his breaking point at Ducky seemed to believe?

"Wait, you don't think she was at his new apartment, do you, you know staying the night?" Tony voiced with growing concern, as he thought over what he'd been hearing, about the closeness Tim had with Kristy, whilst realising how it would affect others in their close family unit.

Gibbs decided he'd heard enough and it was time to get proper answers, decision made he looked at Ziva first.

"Ziva, contact the animal sanctuary, see if you can make contact with Kristy or if anyone has seen her there today, report back here, then go home for a couple of hours get some sleep, I've got a project for you to do this afternoon"

"Yes Gibbs" Ziva replied before she slipped from the room

"Tony, go back to headquarters tell Anderson that the evidence from Tim's apartment is now priority, then work with Agent O'Neill on your theory, make any security videos your top priority, cover a three block radius if you have to. Oh and I want to know if any bodies were found this morning, human or otherwise" Gibbs ordered

"Care to share, Gibbs" Leon requested, to which Gibbs winced realising he let slip that Abby was no longer working the evidence and that they had a theory on the fire.

"Just giving Abby sometime to think over her recent choices" Gibbs replied as cryptically as possible

"Very well, in that case, Agent DiNozzo, I'll ride back with you as the Commander here has a meeting to attend at the Pentagon, and you can tell me your theory" Vance stated giving Gibbs a look that told him he'd be looking into the Abby, matter.

"As you wish Director" Tony replied with an 'oh crap' expression filling his face briefly before he managed to gain control.

**- NCIS -**

The door to Tim's room had barely closed when the phone in Gibbs's pocket started to vibrate.

"Gibbs"

"Agent Gibbs this is William Langston"

Mr Langston, what can I do for you, sir?"

"Well I'm calling for two reasons, firstly, I've been trying to get hold of Timothy for an update, but to no avail, is everything alright there? And secondly have you seen Sarah lately?

Gibbs decided cautiously to only answer the second question "No sir, as far as I was aware Sarah was with you"

"Unfortunately I only wish that was the case, but it looks like she left last night without saying anything, to the other whilst I was out. I went to her room this morning to find her bed still made with a note on it stating she was too worried about Tim to stay away"

"Mr Langston I'm sure Sarah is fine, but I will call as soon as I know anything"

"Thank you Agent Gibbs, I'd appreciate that, I know how busy you are" Mr Langston replied before disconnecting the call

Gibbs sighed as he looked down sadly at the sleeping figure leaning against him, as Tim shifted in his sleep, before looking at Ducky to see the same concern that was now churning in his gut reflected in the older man's eyes.

"I had better head in Jethro. Can't leave Mr Palmer there all day to carry the load" Ducky said

"Okay Ducky, we'll see you later" Gibbs replied understanding exactly what Ducky had left unsaid.


	20. Chapter 20 Dealing with Evidence & Abby

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 20 Dealing with Evidence & Abby

"Hey Anderson, I need to borrow…..Wow!" Abby stated in surprise seeing all the additional boxes of evidence stacked up in Anderson's Lab.

"Oh hey Abby, yeah I know what you mean" Ian Anderson replied cautiously, as he looked up from what he was working on, he really didn't want to be the one to tell Abby what was going on.

"Where's all this come from? I mean it's not the terrorist case so?" Abby questioned, looking closer at the boxes of chard goods.

"No it's not, but they think it may be linked so….." Anderson shrugged in reply, just as Tony and Vance arrived via the other entrance to the lab. Both of whom seemed not to realise Abby was even in the room, as their attention was focused completely on Anderson.

"Ian, just dropping by to tell you Gibbs wants the stuff from McGee's apartment done ASAP, as we have working theory. Agent O'Neill and I are going to go through the video evidence up stair, actually he's already started without me, so I could come and get an update….."

"What do you mean McGee's apartment?!" Abby questioned obnoxiously "Is all this stuff from McGee's place? What happened?"

"Oh, Abby, yes it is, and why do you care?"

"Tony!"

"No Abby! You've made it perfectly clear that you don't give a rat's arse about what's going on with Tim at the moment so don't even think about pretending you do!" Tony snapped back

Abby stood there momentarily stunning by Tony's outburst before pouting out a huff and turning on her heals to leave the room.

"Not so fast, if you please Ms Sciuto" Vance commanded with authority, causing Abby to stop, he waited until she turned back round to face him before he spoke again.

"It's come to my attention that proper conduct hasn't been being followed recently. I would like to see you in my office in one hour"

Abby looked from Vance to Tony and back again, completely astonished that anyone would have spoken out about her, especially to Vance, and more importantly, she assumed, behind Gibbs back.

Tony for his part was completing ignoring Abby, looking over what Ian was working on and having said what he needed Vance also turned his attention away from her and back to the case in had as Tony asked Ian a question.

"So what do you have so far?"

Not liking being ignored Abby turned and stormed out of the lab, failing to notice the two men look at each other and give a small shake of their heads, whilst rolling their eyes, at her behaviour.

"Well…" Ian began to explain the results of the evidence he had managed to work through so far.

**- NCIS -**

Ziva slipped quickly and quietly back into Tim's hospital room where Gibbs was now alone with her injured team mate/friend and gave a sad smile at the sight of the younger man, that she thought of almost as a brother, sleeping comfortably whilst leaning back on Gibbs.

"I managed to contact the animal sanctuary, but Kristy is apparently on a day's leave today. However her boss was kind enough to give me her contact details and address. I've tried both her home and mobile numbers but there is no answer, so I thought I'd pop round as it's on my way home. Can I get you anything before I leave?"

"No I'm good, but let me know if you find anything" Gibbs replied pointing at the fresh coffee on the bedside cabinet

"Of course Gibbs" Ziva responded with a smile before turning and leaving the room just a quietly as she had come in.

**- NCIS -**

Ducky arrived in autopsy to find Jimmy Palmer backed up against the refrigeration units on the far wall with Abby standing squarely in front of him; it was evident they were in the middle of an argument and that neither of them noticed his arrival.

"…I'm not saying that Abby!" Jimmy protested

"Really well you could have fooled me!" Abby replied sarcastically "You have to tell me!"

"No, Abby I don't! The canine has nothing to do with any of the cases you're working on!"

"So, just because it's a dog that gives you the right to refuse giving me some samples so I can at least help identify him!"

"I was simply trying to explain that it's not up to you, what order we do the medical examinations in" Jimmy tried to reason with the angry woman, he wasn't about to tell her the dogs identity was already known, even if it was not actually proven just yet.

"Well don't you think you should at least be doing them instead of playing around with the kettle in Ducky's Office?"

"Okay look, not that I have to justify my self to you but" Jimmy was obviously very frustrated now "Firstly I've been on the go since before six this morning so I was taking a five minute break as it now ten o'clock. Secondly none of these bodies" Jimmy indicated to the table in a flurried arm gesture. "_**Including**_ the canine, have anything to do with the cases you are working on! Thirdly the order in which the autopsies are done depends on the priority of the case and that's decided by Dr Mallard, the Director, me and the teams order ranking"

"But….." Abby tried to interrupt, however Jimmy ploughed on regardless

"Besides the director call last night and told me to hold off on the Miller case you're working on, as Agent Donaldson case was more urgent and then we caught another case with Agents Balboa and O'Neill. Lastly but no means least, I am expecting Dr Mallard in at some point this morning, so I thought I'd fill up the kettle ready so as I could make him a cuppa when he does arrive!"

"That is very thoughtful of you Mr Palmer" Ducky stated simply making the two younger people jump as they realised he was there, however Abby was undeterred by what she had heard

"Well I think….." she started but Ducky had heard enough and put a stop to any further ranting that might be for coming from the forensic scientist

"I think, Mr Palmer is well aware of what you think young Abigail, now why don't you be a good girl and leave us to do our work? Yes?"

Tony's arrival in autopsy had also gone unnoticed and he was presently leaning against the doorframe leading into the room, after having been with Ian for a little over twenty minutes, he hadn't expected to see either Abby or Ducky, believing the later would still be at the hospital. He had however, come down to autopsy to see Jimmy for himself and to make sure the young man was okay with everything that was going on. It didn't go unnoticed by the Senior Field Agent that Jimmy was looking decidedly out of sorts, and not just from the ear bashing he had been receiving

"I think that would be a very good idea" Tony stated simply as he purposely looked at his watch "Besides don't you have a meeting to get ready for with the Director, Abs?"

"Well, thanks to you yes!" Abby announced accusingly as she storm out the room, Tony for his part took no notice of her last remarks, right now he didn't really care what she thought he had done and he was more than happy to cover for Gibbs, whilst the older man was looking out for his partner/friend/brother, besides right now he was more interested in the burnt remains of the canine on the autopsy table in front of him.

Receiving puzzled looks from both Ducky and Jimmy, Tony just shook his head to indicate that Abby's comment wasn't up for discussion. After having heard the doors to autopsy close, he choose his next words carefully "So is this Jethro? Was he alone Jimmy?"

"No formal identity has been done yet Tony, but yes the dog collar tag found beside the body, indicates that it was Jethro, but no, I'm afraid he wasn't alone" Jimmy stated sadly as he indicated to the far autopsy tables as Tony looked up stunned

"But that's two bodies Jimmy" Tony stated in disbelief at what he was seeing, he thought he may have seen one, but two was definitely not what he was expecting.

**- NCIS -**

Gibbs watched as Tim stirred in his sleep a sure sign that he was either going to be waking up shortly or was about to have a nightmare, Gibbs was trying to figure out which it might be when his phone vibrated indicating another call, believing it may be Tony with an update he answered

"Yeah Tony?"

"Gibbs Where are you?! You're need here at headquarters!" Abby's voice shrilled over the phone

"I'm at the hospital Abby, why?"

"Because I need you here, that's why! What are you doing at the hospital anyway?!" Abby demand

"What do you think I'm doing here Abby? Why do you need me it's not like you're working on any of my team's cases right now?" Gibbs couldn't stop his voice from raising a notch, and his tone started to show his irritation at the forensic scientist

"Because DiNozzo opened his stupid mouth and told Vance about me, so now I have to go see him, to explain myself. So I need you here to put Vance straight!" Abby was practically shouting, and even with holding the phone away from his ear Gibbs heard every word clearly, Tim stirred more as he started coming too.

In no mood to deal with the forensic scientist and still a little miffed by her attitude Gibbs gave Abby an earful in return "God Abby don't you ever think about anybody but yourself!? Tim's had some bad news regarding his new apartment, this morning and I'm not leaving him here to deal with it on his own, no matter what you might think!"

"But…"

Gibbs cut her off "No Abby! Oh and get your fact right before you see Vance, as it wasn't Tony who open his mouth it was me!" slamming his phone shut in anger and frustration.

During his last outburst Gibbs had failed to noticed a pair of worried green eyes looking at him, but immediately noticed when Tim made an effort to get away from him.

**- NCIS -**

Jimmy sighed, removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes before he continued "Yes Tony, it is, and though Ian hasn't done the full analysis of the samples I sent him, I can tell you they are both female, and this one is most defiantly Kristy"

"Mr Palmer are you quite sure of this identification?" Ducky questioned gently knowing how close he was to his sister in law.

"Yes, Doctor Mallard" Jimmy replied, sadly, as he lifted a sample jar to show the elderly man in front of him "This is the engagement ring Tim gave Kristy last Friday, he showed it to me last week, it's inscribed with; Love Always and Forever TM."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, my lad, that you had to be witness to this, you certainly shouldn't have done this by yourself, do you wish to go home to see Breena?" Ducky comforted his young assistant

"They were engaged?" Tony breathed out in disbelief, barely audible, as he focus on the ring.

"Not right now Doctor, Breena's at work and I think I'd prefer to wait and tell the whole family together…. and in answer to your question Tony - only just" Jimmy replied sadly "I believe Kristy started staying over more and more last month. I'm sure Tim had every intention of telling the team, but then you guys got the Kennings case and well…." Jim let his voice trail off, no more was really needing to be said at that point.

"And the other body, Mr Palmer?" Ducky pushed gently knowing his assistant was upset

"I don't know, Doctor, but again I've sent samples to Ian, though she was wearing a very distinctive necklace." Jimmy put down the sample jar and held up an evidence bag, Tony couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him as he easily recognised the piece of Jewellery his partner had personally designed for his younger sister.

"Oh my god! That's Sarah's!" he gasped as he grabbed for the side of the autopsy table closest to him, for support, as his knees went too buckled.

"Are you sure Anthony?" Ducky questioned, he was less surprised at the news because of the call he'd over heard at the hospital, though he had hoped Sarah would be found alive and well, he also didn't want to jump to conclusions and was unsure if Tony was correct in what he was saying.

"Yeah, Duck, I was with him when he collected it" Tony stated as he swallowed hard trying to control his emotions.

**- NCIS -**

Abby looked at her phone in shock as she realised the Gibbs had hung up on her, her of all people! She was the favourite after all, no one had the right to do that! Abby was annoyed over what Gibbs had said to her. His inability to see that she was more important than Tim was really beginning to get on her nerves! She couldn't/ wouldn't believe that it had been Gibbs that told Vance about her, no that piece of information had to be wrong, there no way in the world he'd ever do that!

So what if Tim's new apartment had been torched? She was about to have a meeting with Vance, one that could only end badly for her, if Gibbs didn't come back and sort this mess out by reinstating her as his favourite.

Suddenly the realisation dawned on Abby that the canine down in autopsy might be her beloved Jethro and her anger grew as she realised that Tim had failed in his duty to protect the innocent animal.

**- NCIS -**

Tony arrived back in the bullpen feeling quite ill, with regards to what he had learnt in autopsy, that was one conversation he sure as hell wasn't looking forward to having with his Probie, but he had agreed with Ducky to wait for the official confirmation of the DNA before saying anything.

For a moment he took time watch the activity taking place in front of him, as he realised that not only was O'Neill but Agents Balboa, Fornell and Sacks, spread out between the three teams plasma's, where working on the security footage, collected from and around Tim's apartment block. Just as he was about to make his way over to O'Neill, Sacks called out to gain everyone's attention.

"Got something!"

"Yeah?" Tony questioned as he bee-lined his way over to the FBI agent

"Definitely, I've been working through the apartment blocks footage, see for yourself" Sacks replied with a half smiled as he pointed to the now still image on the screen.

"The apartment block has its own security cameras?" Tony queried as he came closer

"According to the apartment blocks manager, that's one of the reasons Tim took the apartment in the first place" Agent Balboa told Tony as he joined the group "Something about liking the extra security it gave" Tony looked at Balboa and O'Neill questioningly

"Makes sense after all it was only a few months ago when Tim got beaten up, in his last apartment, by the brother of that nutter you guys put away" O'Neill stated in response to the look from Tony

Thinking about it Tony then nodded as he remember the Sewell case, even though he hadn't been overly hurt, Tim wouldn't go into his old apartment alone for a week after that attack, looking back at the still image on the plasma, he smiled before smugly stating "Gotcha!"

**- NCIS -**

Tim had woken up confused, not only finding himself leaning against Gibbs but hearing the angry exchange the older man was having with Abby, being half asleep he hadn't really registered that the anger wasn't being directed at him. Sitting up, as quickly as his medical condition allow, whilst scooting backwards at the same time, Tim suddenly found himself starting to fall off the other side of the bed, before a strong pair of hands managed to grab him in time.

"Easy Tim" Gibbs soothed "Relax, it's okay, sorry I startled you" Gibbs gently manoeuvred Tim to bring him safely back onto the bed and into a hug at the same time, which at first Tim tried not to give into, gently rubbing Tim's upper back in a reassuring gesture, realising just how much he had startled his youngest, but how he must of sounded.

"I'm not angry at you, just breath, it's okay" Feeling somewhat guilty at what happened and the near miss it had nearly caused, Gibbs continued with the reassurance until he felt Tim slacken in his arms "That's it buddy, know why don't you tell me what's going on inside that head of yours?"

* * *

Sorry guys, I know several of you requested that Jethro and the girls would be okay, but for the sake of the story sacrifices had to be made….


	21. Chapter 21 Meeting with Vance

Thanks again for all the wonderful feed back and support you guys are amazing. Reading them gives me the boost I need when I get stuck

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 21 Meeting with Vance

Unbelievable! That's what Vance wanted to shout out in of frustration, shock and anger at what he had just heard, but he knew better and that he needed to act with professionalism during this meeting or things would not go the way they need too. He had spent the last ten or so minutes, sitting behind his desk, listening to Abby Sciuto, who was standing in front of him, giving her reasons for her behaviour over the last couple of days. Vance had to make a conscious effort to mask his features as so not to give the forensic scientist a reason not to think he knew better, that the words that came tumbling out of her mouth where just lies.

Instead he rose out of his chair and turned so he stood facing the window with his back to Abby letting her stew, whilst he tried to rain in his own emotions, he was more than a little tired right now, having been up reading reports most of the night, but he needed to keep control of himself so that when he talked, he at least appeared calm, even if that was anything but what he was feeling, to silly self-centred forensic scientist.

Whilst reading reports from before his time as Director, along a few from his on tenure, he had taken the time to think back over the last few days, trying to get everything he'd seen, read and heard, into perspective. Prior to going to the hospital that morning and during the evening before, after his hospital visit, he had taken the time to speak to other people at the yard, getting an overall judgement, not just recent event but on historic ones too, that he himself had not been witness too.

Schooling his thoughts and features whilst collecting the folders that sat on the bureau in front of him, Director Vance turned back round re taking his seat, whilst still not allowing the forensic scientist to be seated, he wanted her uncomfortable so he was purposely taking his time, even though right now he wanted nothing more than to be at the hospital showing his support for Tim McGee, who he thought of very highly.

"Let me see if I've got this straight, you decided, whilst away at the conference that the top three MCRT, you are assigned to work with, have been taking up too much of your valued work time and this is unfair on the other two teams you are assigned to help?" Vance asked with calm authority

"Yes sir" Abby replied

"So this has nothing to do with favouritism then?" Vance questioned not quite being able to hide the scepticism from his voice.

"No Sir" Abby responded, holding her hands behind her back with her fingers crossed, in the hope that the Director would believe her.

**- NCIS -**

Watching his young agent carefully for more than ten minutes, whilst still holding him in a loose but comforting hug, Gibbs could tell that Tim was thinking, he almost thought he could see the cogs turning in his brain, working up to answering his question, but also a possible question/questions of his own. However the Tim seemed uncertain about letting the Team Leader in on his thoughts, so he decided to give the younger man a gentle nudge.

"Tim?"

"Kirsty dead isn't she?" Tim question softly, his voice tentative and filled with sorrow

"We don't know that for certain Tim" Gibbs softly replied, he had a feeling that Tim was properly correct in his assessment whilst wishing to hell that he had a more definitive answer.

"Boss, she moved in over the weekend, when her tenancy run out on her flat" Tim explained, and in so doing gave Gibbs a small amount of what was going on in his mind and along with the reason why he had reacted the way he had earlier after receiving the news about his apartment, whilst looking down at the bed his free hand suddenly fascinated with playing with the bed sheet.

Placing his hand under Tim's chin Gibbs, gently but firmly, tilted the young man's head up to that he was looking directly at him "We don't know yet, Tim" he said more firmly whilst still keeping his voice soft

"But…."

"No, listened, I not going to deny that it's a distinct possibility, or that you need to prepare yourself, that it may be the case, but until we know for sure I don't want you worrying about it"

"Kind-a hard not to Boss…." Tim responded

"I know" Gibbs admitted sadly, whilst pulling Tim back into a firmer hug. Giving his agent all the support he wanted and needed right now was top of Gibbs priority, he knew soon enough that the next set of automated pain medications would kick in, sending his young agent into yet another much needed slumber, and when that happened he'd have time to go outside the room and start getting the answers that would clear things up, but until then he'd just have to wait.

As McGee started to drift off, Gibbs manoeuvred Tim so that he was no longer leaning against him, by position the beds headboard into a tilted position, however the older agent ensure that Tim realised he was still there with him by staying on the edge of the bed and rest his hand on his arm. Just as Gibbs got them into their new position Tim sleepily asked a question that left Gibbs stunned

"Boss, you're not angry with Abby because of anything to do with me or the work I might not have done recently for Abby, are you?"

**- NCIS -**

"Your role here is very specific Miss Sciuto, you are here to ensure that all the forensics' are done in a timely and efficient manner to enable the teams your assigned to, get the people responsible for the crime, is that not correct?"

"Yes sir"

"So in order to do that you need to process the evidence as it is brought to you, yes?"

"Yes sir"

"To help ensure that you're able to do this you were assigned to five teams, each with a different level of team ranking, which in turn sets the priority of your work, does it not?"

"Yes sir"

"So you're telling me that you have decide that this system, which has worked for years, decades actually, with all four forensic scientist, doesn't need to be followed by you, because you have a much better understanding of how thing should work around here?"

When Abby Sciuto failed to reply the Director seized his opening. "Well, that's very interest Miss Sciuto" Vance started slowly, he'd had enough of this charade and wasn't going to let it continue for a moment longer "Let me tell you how I understand the situation…"

**- NCIS -**

"How's McGee handling all this Tony?" Sacks asked. The large group of agents, along with Ducky and Jimmy, were quietly talking things over, whilst they were waiting, in the Bullpen, for the meeting to end between Vance and Abby so they could report their findings to Vance, as he had specifically told them that no action was to be taken until the bodies had been properly identified and that he would be attending any arrests that were to be made.

"How'd you think he's handling it?!" Tony snapped back

"Hey! Back off! None of this is our fault DiNozzo" Fornell countered evenly

"Man, I'm sorry - I'm just not looking forward to having to tell Tim that it wasn't just his Fiancée and Jethro, that died in that fire or the fact that it was his own dad that did this" Tony blew out in frustration

"Antony, we understand your frustration, but you need to remain calm" Ducky soothed

"Beside you better than anyone should know that Tim would want all the facts it's just how his brain works" Jimmy quietly joined in the conversation for the first time

"Yeah, you've got a point there, how you holding up Jimmy?" Tony questioned gently only to receive a shrug in response. All the agents in the room felt for the young Medical Examiners Assistant, after-all it wasn't everyone who landed up doing an autopsy on a relative.

"How much longer do you think they are going to be?" Fornell queried, his eyes looking up towards the Directors office.

"How long's a piece of string?" Agent Balboa retorted with a smirk

"Good point, okay how does this sound for a suggestion, Sacks and I go down to the hospital where we can keep a discrete eye on the Admiral, whilst taking the opportunity for ourselves to check on McGee, that way if the Admiral leaves the hospital we'll be able to follow him" Fornell queried

"Actually that sounds like a good idea, you could take Gibbs a coffee and give him an update at the same time" Tony responded sounding slightly relieved that he wouldn't be around when Gibbs found out the truth

"Yeah, like you're thinking, under all that bravado, you're just a great big scared-e-cat" Fornell sniggered

"When it comes to Gibbs, in full papa mood, like he is right now, you bet I am!" Tony agreed laughing as he watch both men gather their things and leave.

**- NCIS -**

"I think that you've had a lot of people fooled for a very long time, I also think that you're afraid that some of those same people are finally going to realise the truth" Vance stated simply after a few moments of making Abby wait to hear his take on things

"Director, I…" Abby started to protest, but stopped when Vance put up his hand

"Miss Sciuto you've had your chance to speak and I did not interrupt you, whilst you spoke, so the least you can do is extend me the same curtsey" Vance hadn't raised his voice but he put authority into it to make the forensic scientist take notice.

"When you arrived back the other evening, at the bequest of Doctor Mallard and Agent Gibbs, I might add, I genuinely believed that you were worried over the fact that Agent McGee had been taken hostage. Likewise at the hospital, when all you did was whimper before running off, I believed you were genuinely upset over the seeing Agent McGee's injuries. However I realise now that I was wrong in these assumptions"

"Whilst I spent most of yesterday fielding phone calls, thanks in no short measure to Admiral McGee, I found myself speaking to various members of staff throughout the yard and comments they made got me thinking. So after hearing Tony and Ziva inform Gibbs that you were and I quote 'sulking like a spoilt five year old' I came back to the yard and did some serious reading on a number of past cases and it made me understand that Agent McGee was not the person you where worrying about. You were only worried that someone would figure out that you have been using your knowledge of Tim's struggles with people in authority, to get him to do whatever you want, whenever you want it - including a lot of the work you are responsible for doing, because you knew that the last person in the world he would stand up to was Agent Gibbs!"

"I find it very disheartening that someone with Agent McGee stature and talent, is being held over a metaphorical barrel so to speak, just so that you can keep your status as the favourite in Agent Gibbs eyes. Well let me tell you this Miss Sciuto it stops, right now! Agent McGee will no longer be at your beck and call."

**- NCIS -**

Gibbs was in shock at what Tim had said as he finally succumbed to the pain medication in his system, realising that his young agent had let his guard complete slip as he drifted off. What on earth did he mean by the work he should have done for Abby? Why did he seem so concerned that Gibbs was angry at Abby because of him? Gibbs knew that Tim spent a lot of his time down in the labs when they were not busy with a case, but he always thought it was because Tim enjoyed the company, was he wrong in that assumption?

Staying just a few more moments to make sure his youngest was sleeping soundly, Gibbs silently slipped from McGee's room, he would have to deal with Tim's question and his own ones regarding it later, right now it was time to get some updates from his other agents

As he looked briefly at his phone deciding which one to call first he realised he had received a text message from someone, so decided to see what that said first before making any calls.

***Your phone engaged, no answer at Kirsty's apartment. Spoke with landlord. Kirsty moved out at the weekend – no forwarding address given. Ziva***

Gibbs smirked at the abrupt style of the text, as he hit the speed-dial for his senior agent, it was Ziva all over straight and to the point no time for fluff.

"Very Special Agent Antony DiNozzo, speaking"

"Yeah, so where's your update DiNozzo?"

"Err, should be turning up there any moment, boss" Tony replied sounding a little amused, just as the doors to the ICU reception area opened to reveal Agents Fornell and Sacks strolling in, the older agent holding a tray of coffee's.

**- NCIS -**

Vance looked at the pile of folders on his desk for a moment before picking one up and looking back towards Abby.

"I have a question for you Miss Sciuto, did you know that at the back of every report written by an agent is an envelope, in which they are allowed to put in their personal feelings regarding what happened during the case, as this information is not required by the courts but can help to jog a memory of a case at a later date if need be? This information is rarely read by the team leaders or myself, but I think that's a policy I'm going to change"

"No Director, I wasn't aware of this" Abby responded meekly

"I'm sure you weren't, because if you had been you may have conducted yourself with a bit more professionalism, in regards to Agent McGee, than has been the case" Vance states as he drops the case file he's been holding back down on the pile.

"Let's start with the Mawher, Mexico and the Drug Case that involved Jethro shall we? I'm sure you'll remember them…."

**- NCIS -**

Ian Anderson rarely entered the bullpen, so when he did everyone took notice, and it was no different now as the team of agents working the case, along with the medical examiner and his assistant, definitely noticed his arrival, especially when his footsteps faltered briefly as he came round the corner that lead past Agent McGee's desk

"You have confirmation" The softly spoken words, were not a merely question but a clarification that, came from Jimmy

"I do"

**- NCIS -**

"So Miss Sciuto, do you think that in any of these cases your behaviour was appropriate?" Vance questioned, they had now been discussing historic cases for a good twenty minutes. Just as Abby was about to respond the intercom sounded on the Directors desk

"Sorry Director but you asked to be notified the second the results came in"

"Very good Pam thank you"

"We will table the rest of this discussion for a later date – in the mean time Miss Sciuto you have some serious thinking to do, but you'll have the time, as starting immediately your suspended from your duties with out pay, I will have someone from HR inform you the exact details and length of your suspension in the next day or two, right now I have somewhere I need to be"

Abby turned to leave the Directors office "Not so fast Miss Sciuto, you need to stay here until James from security can come up and accompany you to collect your things before escorting you off the premises"

**- NCIS -**

Gibbs and Fornell had been sat quietly, discussing the security footage, as Tim started to stirred in his sleep, Sacks was out in the reception area keeping an eye on the Admiral, when Vance, Ducky, Jimmy, Ziva and Tony walked into the room looking very subdued indeed.

Having been filled in on the details, that there had been two bodies in Tim's apartment, along with a canine, and the thoughts as to who they maybe, along with the reasons why, Gibbs heart broke as the comprehension of what this meant for his youngest agent, hit home.

The group quietly informed Gibbs of the results from the Autopsy, although they realised that he had already guessed, his reaction to the news was completely as they had anticipated, Gibbs started to pace the small room so Vance decided to take the lead, with moving things forward

"I think it would be advisable to take the rest of this conversation outside"

"I agree" Doctor Mallard responded simply, when Gibbs turned and stared at the older man, he quickly explained "it will do Timothy no good to wake up and see you in this state Jethro"

"He's right, besides we have something else to take care of" Fornell agreed whilst pointing out of the observation window at the Admiral having yet another argument with a member of hospital staff.

Nodding slowly Gibbs turned and exited Tim's room slowly followed by the rest of the group, Ziva hung back for a moment, running her hand softly over Tim's cheek, before also heading out.

**- NCIS -**

Abby paced back and forth in Vance's office, with quick and energetic steps. She was sure Vance had told the security guard to keep her waiting and it did nothing to improve her mood. Vance had realised that she had been using McGee for her own benefit, and the forensic scientist hated the idea that anyone knew the truth

"This is all McGee's fault!" she shouted out

**- NCIS -**

The group stood in the ICU's reception area deciding the best way to deal with things. Vance had given Agents O'Neill and Balboa, along with Fornell and Sacks, the privilege of arresting the Admiral and taking him back to headquarters, as he realised allowing Gibbs and DiNozzo anywhere near the man, at this moment in time, would not be the best idea, after all one (if not both) of them was more than likely to hit the man.

However, it had also been agreed, before the arrest, that the interrogation would be conducted by Vance, Gibbs and Fornell, and that the Admiral would not be informed of the murder charges until then. The interrogation would only take place once Tim had awakened and been informed of what had happen. So now some ten minutes, later the small group of NCIS personal where in the process of working out just how to do this very task.

"I think it's best that we do not crowd young Timothy when we deliver the news Jethro" Ducky suggested with a worried tone

"This is going to break Tim, how on earth do we tell him?" Gibbs asked

"We already have" Ziva responded sadly from where she had been standing, since leaving the room, looking into Tim's room through the observation window, receiving quizzed looks from the men, she silently indicated with her hand that they should watch through the window for a while.

The group looked through to see Tim laying on his side facing away from the window, at a quick glance he would appear to be sleeping, they watched for a few moments before they noticed the small tremors that occasionally run through Tim's upper body, an indication that the young agent was privately grieving.

"He was awake the entire time" Ziva dejectedly informed them

"Oh Timothy" Ducky said softly

"Why didn't he say something?" Tony question "more's to the point why didn't you?"

"I wasn't certain until I brush my hand over his cheek, before leaving the room, it was moist to the touch"

"You should have said something! He shouldn't been in there alone right now" Tony retorted, whilst wondering why Gibbs wasn't ripping into Ziva, instead the Gibbs had pulled her into a hug and was in the process of kissing the top of her forehead

"You did good Ziva" he stated simply

"Boss!" Tony gasped

"No Tony, Tim needs a moment to grieve in peace"

"Jethro's right Anthony, Timothy would never show his true emotions if we had stayed in the room. Let's give him a few moments, then we can go back in and show him he's not alone."

* * *

Okay guys I know a lot of you have told me you can't wait for the interrogation but I am struggling to write it at the moment and as its the next chapter you might have to wait a while, sorry. If anyone can point me in the direction of a story which has a good interrogation scene in it, that I can use for inspiration, I'd appreciate it.


	22. Chapter 22 Interrogation

Just want to say thank you for all the suggestions and an even bigger _**thank you** _to Gottahavemyncis for proof reading this for me and giving me the confidence to post this chapter you had all been looking forward to

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

**Chapter 22 Interrogation**

The interrogation of Admiral McGee had been going for a little over twenty minutes, though it had been three hours since his arrest, and it wasn't going well. Gibbs stayed quiet, leaning back against the two-way mirror, allowing Vance and Fornell, who were both seated, to take the lead with the questioning, however Admiral McGee was proving to be a stubborn man. He repeatedly refused to answer any of their questions, or if he did, the answers he gave were anything but honest in regard to his recent activity.

Both Vance and Fornell knew that Gibbs was just waiting for the right moment, an opening was all he needed, and none of them wanted to play their trump card just yet, sure, the man knew he was being charged with arson but they hadn't informed him of the murder charges just yet. So Fornell, who had just about had it with the Admiral, decided it was time to give Gibbs the opening he needed. So with a look at Vance for permission, Fornell again changed tactics.

"So you're telling me that you were nowhere near Agent McGee's apartment this morning, at a little after 05:00 hours?" Fornell said, as he appeared to be checking something on the paper work in front of him with the previous statement the Admiral had given, stating that he was catching some sleep in his car, having spent the night outside Nathans room in the hospital, as he still wasn't allowed in, something that obviously frustrated the hell out of him

"Why on earth would I have been there?" the Admiral retorted, "I haven't had anything to do that stupid boy since he was fifteen."

"I'd hardly call having two degrees and a masters, stupid." Vance countered.

"I think you should reconsider your answer," Fornell stated simply as he laid out photographs, taken from the security footage outside Tim's apartment, on the table, which clearly showed just how the admiral had managed to set the apartment on fire. Realising he was 'caught in the act' the Admiral decided to amend his story.

"I was merely teaching the boy a lesson."

"And just what sort of lesson would Agent McGee need to be taught and why did it involve torching his apartment?"

"A lesson that he should have learned a long time ago, no one messes with my son Nathan without answering to me. I was just ensuring he paid for his stupidity and once he's had time to think I can ensure you, he will have all these charges you've dreamt up against Nathan dropped and he'll not go through with pressing charges against me." The smugness in the Admiral voice made all the other men's blood boil.

"We'll park that thought about the charges for a moment - as there something else I'd like to clear up first." Fornell paused for a moment whilst he quietly told both Vance and Gibbs he wasn't about to let the comment regarding the charges drop completely. "That's the second time you've called Nathan your son, why?" Fornell questioned.

"Because he is" came the simple response.

"Really?" Vance question sarcastically, ensuring he hit a nerve "You seem pretty sure about that"

"I don't have to explain myself to you" the Admiral snapped back

"You had an affair." Fornell stated simply, then reasoned it out more, "You had an affair with your own brother's wife, that's the reason you believe he's your son."

"I don't 'believe' he's my son, I know he's my son"

The opening achieved Fornell sat back to watch the show as Gibbs pounced, slamming his fist against the table as he brought down a piece of paper in front of the Admiral, causing the man to flinch at the sudden change in the dynamics in the room. Vance just smiled; this was Fornell and Gibbs at their best, one of them would reel in their target and then the other one would ambush their pry with ease.

"That's not what his DNA tells us." Gibbs informed the man aggressively.

"What?!" the Admiral was clearly startled.

"Yeah, wonderful thing DNA, I won't bore you with all the technical stuff, it's a little beyond my understanding - so you definitely wouldn't get it" Gibbs paused for a moment allowing the words to sink in before continuing. "Your DNA is in the system, legal requirement for all Admirals, as it is for Federal Agents – so we had Tim's. Got Nathan's from the hospital and we already had Sarah's because of another case." The emphasized 'Federal Agent' didn't go unnoticed.

"You see our Director here is a curious kind of guy, likes to know everything and looks into things when he's given a tip-bit of information that does really add up and when you made that comment at the hospital yesterday, it got him to thinking – that can be dangerous you know – the Director thinking. So we took the opportunity to look into your claims, ran a check and guess what? You're more of a fool than I thought possible."

"How…" Admiral McGee flustered.

"Dare I? Easy, if there one thing I hate more than anything it's a bully."

"But…" The Admiral was looking at the piece of paper in front of him now and appeared completely confused.

"You've been backing the wrong horse, so to speak, Admiral." Vance stated with a smirk just before Gibbs landed the verbal sucker punch.

"How an idiot like you could have ever fathered, two brilliant kids like Tim and Sarah is completely beyond me!"

"That boy and I have nothing in common! It doesn't matter what that piece of paper says; Nathan and I have too much in common to be anything but father and son." The Admiral protested.

"Yeah, you're both murderers." Gibbs retorted his voice filled with venom.

"Come again…? What nonsense are up making up now?" Admiral McGee was firstly confused by the comment and then became angry.

Gibbs waved his hand at Fornell, indicating he was once again giving his friend the lead, Fornell took his time as he pulled out the photos of the Camaro and slowly placed them in front of the Admiral.

"Let's talk about Edith's murder first shall we, you know the murder you tried to cover up?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Admiral McGee snarled, he may finally have learned the truth about Nathan not being his son but he sure as hell wasn't going to let these idiots blacken his name.

"Oh I think I do, you see not only do we have the evidence from the time of the accident, and by the way your wife never stood a chance at the red light with the break-line being tampered with the way it was, but the bus - well I guess Nathan probably didn't plan that bit not that it matters, as we have Nathan's own admission" Fornell stated simply as he picked up the remote and pointed it at the TV in the corner of the room.

The three agents watch in amusement and satisfaction as the Admiral watched the last part of the video Kort had gotten hold of, which showed Tim's time as a hostage in the warehouse basement. Nathan goading Tim about Sarah didn't seem to sit well with the Admiral but they said nothing as the last part played out with Nathan telling Tim that he should have died along with his interfering mother; the shock on the Admirals face was undeniable.

"But…But …he…" Admiral McGee stuttered.

The truth dawned on Vance that maybe the idiot sitting in front of them, really was a blind fool.

"He what Admiral?" Vance questioned.

Looking lost in a memory, the Admiral didn't register the question straight away but when he did, his reply was weakly spoken.

"Nathan had a small Saturday job, at the garage where the Camaro was serviced only a couple of weeks before, you know just helping out a bit. He told me that he'd helped with the service as part of his training and that's why his finger prints would be found all over the car."

"And you believed him" Gibbs stated in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't I?" Admiral McGee reasoned heatedly.

"Then why the backhander?" Fornell quizzed.

"Why'd you think? I wasn't going to let Nathan be accused of something he hadn't done!" Admiral McGee snapped back.

Fornell just pointed back at the TV, the still image showing Nathan's sneering face in full glare. "Accept he did do it and he made you an accessory to murder. Now given his age at the time he won't be going to death row for this crime, but then again we don't need to worry too much about that, his latest charges trump that quite nicely."

For once Admiral McGee didn't respond, the three agents watched as realisation dawned on the man that what they had been telling him was true and that there was nothing he could do to stop what was going to happen to the boy he had until moments ago, believed wholeheartedly was his son.

After a few minutes and a quiet discussion between the three agents, it was decided it was time to put the final nails into the metaphorical coffin.

"You on the other hand… " Fornell started simply, bring the Admiral back to the present.

"What about me, you can't possibly believe you can charge me over this?" The Admiral questioned fastidiously.

"No, a judge maybe willing to believe that you were just stupid." Fornell said sadly shaking his head, making the Admiral believe that he felt sorry for him, but in reality, Fornell was really just preparing for the next ensnarement.

"However, you might like to re-think your earlier comment that Agent McGee would drop all the charges, especially when between you and Nathan, you've taken away all the people he loves the most."

"What are you talking about?"

"Have you seen Sarah lately?" Vance queried, knowing full well the Admiral had made no effort to see her or Tim since he'd left the hospital some nineteen years ago.

"What Sarah got to do with any of this?" came the confused reply.

"Everything" came the simple response from Gibbs who was now standing directly behind the Admiral waiting for the next opening Fornell was progressing to.

"Let talk more about the fire at Agent McGee's new apartment shall we?" Fornell question knowing full well he wasn't really giving the man a choice.

"What about it?"

"I'd like you to enlighten me, how did you find out about Agent McGee's new apartment, after all he's only been living there a couple of months and prior to the Kenning case I believe the two of you have had no real contact."

"I'm an Admiral - I have connections." Admiral McGee stated with pride.

"Really, well let me enlighten you on some details you may not know about. You see there were a number of reasons Agent McGee moved to that apartment, not just the added security measures which made our job in catching you easier." Fornell smiled happily then allowed Vance to take over.

"Firstly there's the size of the apartment, it's much bigger than his last one, big enough in fact for three people to live there. Which was exactly what Agent McGee had planned on." Vance started to enlighten him. "Secondly Tim's girlfriend – sorry should have said fiancé – had recently moved in with him, from what I've been told they were very happy together and finally I believe Sarah had been due to finish University this summer, so the plan was she would be living with Tim and his girlfriend, sorry fiancé, until Sarah was able to afford a place of her own, which is why she already had a key."

"What's this got to do with anything?" Queried the confused Admiral.

"A lot, especially as you didn't bother checking the apartment was empty before you torched it." Fornell stated coldly as he started digging out items from the folder again and slowly started placing them in front of the Admiral. First was the photos showing the damage done to the apartment and then once he knew he had the Admiral's complete attention, he placed the photographic evidence taken in Autopsy, starting with Jethro and ending with Sarah's photographed remains.

The Admiral made an effort to look away from the photos; all three agents could tell he was feeling a little bit more than queasy right now but they really didn't care, their dislike for the man made sure he got no sympathy. Gibbs himself hadn't seen these pictures until this point and he was very near his tipping point right now, so he leaned forward grabbing the Admiral in the rear of the neck as he did so, whilst pointing to the last photo Fornell had laid down.

"Let me enlighten you, that picture there, that's Sarah your daughter, you murderer!" Gibbs shouted, effectively ending the interrogation and enlightening the Admiral to the full extent of his crime.

"Stand down Gibbs!" Vance ordered as he got up and opened the door to the interrogation room. Looking up at Vance, Gibbs gave the admiral a hard shove before letting go and moving away.

Two MP's arrived at the door Vance had opened, ready to escort Admiral McGee off to his holding cell.

"I want to see Nathan." Admiral McGee demanded.

Whilst Gibbs just laughed at the irony, was that really all the man cared about? Fornell and Vance were a bit more vocal at the comment made.

"Really? After everything we've just told you?" Fornell queried in disbelief.

"I don't think you're in any position to make that sort of request," Vance stated coldly as he looked at his watch. "Besides you're too late, Nathan's transport to the prison hospital left about ten minutes ago."

"Nathan's still entitled to a good lawyer, just like I am!"

"He's not entitled to anything…terrorist remember?" Gibbs stated sarcastically. "He's going to the prison hospital for now, then he'll be moved to a secure facility away from any other members of the group involved. Whilst you Admiral will spend the remainder of your days on death row; how the mighty have fallen."

Before the Admiral had a chance to respond, Gibbs was out of the door and half way down the hall, wanting nothing more than to get back to the hospital and see Tim.

"Not so fast if you please, Agent Gibbs" Vance called out to him just as he reached the elevator, turning round to face the Director. Gibbs made no other move other than to wait for the man to catch him up.

"I know you want to get back to the hospital and I won't hold you up, just take these with you and read them when you get a minute, we'll talk about this and Miss Sciuto in the morning."


	23. Chapter 23 Yellow Papers

**Chapter 23 Yellow Papers**

Abby wasn't very good at waiting and but right now she had no choice but to wait, so whilst she waited she paced and planned.

Tim McGee needed to be put back in his place – he was the Probie after all, where as she was the favourite - which was a position she intended not to give up. Right now however, she had another problem – Tony, Ziva and Ducky were in McGee's room, they would leave eventually it was just a matter of time, which meant she had to patient and wait for them to leave, whilst at the same time making sure she wasn't seen.

Abby knew she could make Tim do what she wanted, she'd managed it so many times in the past. Just like how she had purposely put Tim in trouble with Gibbs, just to cover up her mistakes, it was just so easy to do, so now all she needed to do was make Tim realise that nothing had changed and that he was entirely responsible for her Jethro's death. Afterwards she would go to Gibbs and ensure that her place as favourite was firmly intact.

**- NCIS -**

Gibbs was angry – correction he was furious, he had just gotten out of this car and slammed the door in frustration, only to receive glares from some of people walking through the car park, sighing he lent back against the vehicle, he really need to calm down before he went inside.

When he had left the yard he hadn't given much thought to the papers, Vance had given him to look over before tomorrow's meeting, in fact he had just tossed them on the passenger seat with the intention of reading them later on when he got home, but when he pulled up at a set of traffic lights some of the papers had tumbled off the seat into the foot-well, catching his eye in the process, where the yellow pages that were intermixed with them.

Yellow paper was only used for one thing within the yard, an agents personal comments, thoughts and feelings on not just what happened during a particular case, but on co-workers and teammates' attitudes during the case could be put in as well. These were then put into the back of their report, more than likely never to see the light of day again. They were also something he had made a point of not reading when going through his team's reports – that was something that was going to change.

Once he arrived at the hospital he had lent over to pick up the pages out of the foot-well and noticed Tim's handwriting on the first of yellow sheets, quickly glancing at the others he noticed they were all in Tim's handwriting. Curiosity may be something he bragged about Vance having, but his interest definitely peaked when he saw Abby's name mentioned on more than one of them. Instead of heading inside as planned, Gibbs started reading, trouble was the more he read the angrier he became.

He wasn't angry at Tim, no right now Tim was the very last person he was angry with. He was however angry with himself – the fact this had been going on for so long and with him not even noticing, made him very angry at himself, why the hell hadn't he picked up on this before?

More to the point why hadn't anyone else within the team noticed what had been going on? He would have thought that Ducky, Ziva or even Tony would have noticed - okay well maybe not Tony so much in the earlier years, but more recently he would have, wouldn't he? Okay so maybe he couldn't be mad at them, that much either, because if he hadn't notice it then why should he have expected them too?

As for Abby well she was another matter entirely, he could and was very angry with her right now, he also felt extremely let down by her. How could she do that, how could she use Tim's authority issues against him like that? Was Abby really that good at manipulating everything and everyone around her that no one had noticed what she had/was putting Tim through?

Sighing again Gibbs shook his head sadly, now having read the yellow pages and thinking over everything that had happened before Tim's kidnapping, he could see exactly how Abby had managed it and how Tim would believe that he had no right to ask for help, especially from him, Gibbs reflected despondently.

Looking at the building in front of him Gibbs decided it was time that Tim realised just how much he thought about him, he may not be his son by blood, but like the others he was most definitely one of his kids and it was time to show Tim just what that meant. Shoving the papers into his inner jacket pocket, Gibbs agreed with Vance this could be dealt with in the morning, right now Tim needed him, and with that he started striding purposely towards the building.

**- NCIS -**

Tim laid his head back on his pillow closing his eyes and letting out a small sad sigh. Ducky, Tony and Ziva had just stepped out to go to the cafeteria, at Tim's instance, to get them all something to eat, though Tim himself wasn't particularly hungry, so he finally had a moment to himself. Not that he minded their company, but right now he just really wasn't in the mood, okay yes they were just trying to help by keeping his spirits up, but right now he had every right to wallow a little didn't he?

Finding out that both Kirsty and Sarah, along with Jethro, had died in the fire left Tim reeling especially after being told who was responsible for the fire in the first place. Tim had learnt a long time ago that he, nor any of his accomplishments, mattered to Admiral McGee but Sarah and Kirsty had done nothing to deserve what had happened to them because of the Admirals actions.

Lost in his thoughts Tim didn't completely register the sound of the door opening again so soon after closing so didn't see the first hard slap coming before it was too late.

"How dare you lay there relaxing like that after all you've done?!" Abby shrieked

"Abby what the…" Tim startled but managed to get his good arm up in time to stop a second blow.

"You've ruined my career and obviously shooting Jethro wasn't good enough for you, so you arrange to get him killed!"

"Abby please…..Ow!" Tim responded as he desperately tried to stop the angry Goth woman from lashing out again. Still having his left arm securely fasten, to prevent movement, caused him to fail in his attempt as contact was made against his already badly bruised face for a second time, just as a voice roared from behind Abby.

"What the hell!" In what appeared to be a single movement to Tim through tear stung eyes, Gibbs entered the room grabbing Abby from behind and turned her a hundred and eight degrees, before roughly shoving her out the still open door, just as the rest of the team arrived back with their trays loaded up snacks.

"Boss?" Tony queried shocked by Gibbs behaviour

"Ducky Tim needs you" Gibbs informed as he propelled the forensic scientist away from Tim's rooms' door, before demanding answers "What are you doing here Abby?"

"Visiting a friend" Abby responded weakly

"Really, a friend is that what you call yourself after everything you've done? I'm surprised Tim still considers you as such, after all with a friend like you who need enemy's right? So I'll ask you again what are you doing here?" '_Oh god he knows'_ Abby realised and was unable to responded.

Gibbs angry tone wasn't wasted on Tony and Ziva even without knowing exactly what was going on they moved in to place themselves in front of the door that lead to Tim's room, forming a barrier to protect their friend/teammate and brother.

When no reply seem to be forthcoming from Abby, Ziva got impatient "What did you do Abby?"

"Go ahead, Abby enlighten them to what you've been up to behind our backs" Gibbs stated as he pulled the papers from his inner jacket pocket "or would you like me too, maybe I should start be telling them how I just caught you assaulting a federal agent!"

Abby made a mistake as she tried desperately to snatch the papers from Gibbs hand, but he effectively move them out of her reach.

"Those are personal papers Gibbs their not supposed to be read by anyone!" Abby protested knowing full well that for Gibbs to be in this kind of mood he'd already had

"That's were you're wrong, these papers are there in case an agent needs to recall things about a case when/if it's ever brought back to active or if a superior thinks there a problem that needs addressing and with your recent behaviour, you gave Vance enough reason to believe there was a problem and he was right!" Gibbs handed off the papers to Tony and Ziva.

"You don't understand Gibbs" Abby pleaded, needing to get Gibbs to listen to her, if she could do that then she could make him realise it was all Tim's own fault, she made her second mistake in as many minutes "It was done for Tim's own good, Probie's need to be kept in their place!" she shot out without realising what she said.

"What?!" Tony and Ziva both exclaimed in shocked voices as Ducky came back out of Tim's room "I beg your pardon Abigail?"

Before he held up his hand indicating he actually didn't really want to know and enlightening the group as to the reason of his return "Jethro, Tim needs us"

Realising the situation was getting beyond her control Abby did the only thing she knew to gain sympathy, by turning on the tears, but it backfired on her.

"You know what Abby, I don't care, get out of here, now, before I do something I won't regret!" Gibbs stated before he turned his back and walked away from her into Tim's room, turning just as he got there he informed her of a decision he made having read the papers "Whatever Vance decides you fate is, I'll be going along with it" he warned her. Before slipping through the door followed all too quickly, for her liking, by Tony, Ziva and Ducky, all of whom looked seriously annoyed at her, without even knowing what was going on.

**- NCIS -**

Tim had been sitting up on his bed watching the whole scene unfold through the observation window, Gibbs angry voice making him more nervous with every moment that past, Ducky had tried reassuring him that what was happening wasn't anything for him to worry about, whilst he check Tim over, but he worried anyway. When Gibbs slipped into the room the first thing Tim noticed was his angry demeanour, which only lead to heighten Tim's anxiety.

Gibbs noticed the tension in Tim the moment he enter the room, he didn't miss the pain in the young agents eyes either, and briefly wonder when he'd last had any pain relief, but what disturbed him the most was the underlying fear in them. Quickly he made himself calm down and move to sit on the side of the bed taking Tim into a hug before the young man even had time to react.

"It's okay Tim, relax, just calm down its okay" Gibbs soothed, whilst he mentally chastised himself for causing his young agent worry and stress.

"I….I"

"I know it's all right just relax, I'm not angry at you" Gibbs reassured

"But…."

"No, no buts" Gibbs said calmly as he took Tim's face gently in his hands and looked directly into his eyes "I know" he said simply and watched as uncertainly turned into understanding, at what was actually known, Tim looked over Gibbs shoulder to see Tony and Ziva quietly reading the pages they had been handed, just before the panic set in

"Oh god!" Tim exclaimed in horror

"Hey! Stop, calm down, I understand" Gibb reasoned "at least I think I understand why you couldn't come to me, and so will they"

Once Tim managed to calm himself he had a question of his own "How?"

"Vance put it together, you know how curious he can be. He read through some old case files, spoke to some different people and read your personal papers"

Tim simply nodded "You're not mad?"

"How can I be? Disappointed – yes – a little, but I get it, especially after what we've witness this week, Duck was correct when he said, that I'm a lot like your father"

"No! You're not like him!"

"Only in certain ways Timothy" Ducky explained bringing himself into the conversation

"No….." Tim struggled

Needing his agent to listen to him, Gibbs used his position as his boss to make Tim understand "McGee, I may have been blind to your struggle with authority because of what the admiral did to you, but it doesn't mean that I or any of the team shouldn't have seen what Abby was doing"

"The boss is right Probie, man you should have said something" Tony chimed in, still completely shocked at not only what he had just heard but what he was now reading

"Timothy, stop worrying young man, all of us are here for you. I believe what Jethro is trying to tell you that is that you have our support, you've had it a long time even if you didn't realise it" Ducky advised as Ziva moved around the bed place her hand on Tim's shoulder giving him a gentle and encouraging smile, but said nothing.

"Ducky's right, Tim, the only reason you didn't come to any of us was because Abby manipulated you into believing that no matter what you did we would always take her side, well she's wrong. Tell me this – what do you think Abby told me about that little trip to the dessert you guys had in Mexico?"

"That I told her we shouldn't go out there, that it was her idea?"

"No, Tim she told me that you suggested the idea, that you told her that she should take the entire class to the site and that nothing of interested happened whilst you were out there"

"What no I…"

"I know, I read your comments, that was a brave thing you did, but you shouldn't have had to go through that alone and you should have told me – we could have lost you Tim and that's not acceptable, no more hiding anything from me, okay?"

Tim just looked lost in a sea of emotions and Gibbs could tell he'd had enough, the day had been bad enough without this on top, once again Gibbs brought Tim into a strong hug "Forget about this for now Tim, what's happening with Abby is her own doing, you're not responsible, right now you need to concentrate on you and you alone, you hear me?"

Continuing to gently coax Tim, Gibbs managed what Ducky, Tony and Ziva had all tried but failed to do earlier in the day, as he got Tim to finally give into the hug and let the emotions of the day win out as he cried for his loss publicly in front of his team.


	24. Chapter 24 Changes A Foot

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 24 Changes a Foot

The emotional storm lasted just under an hour before Tim succumbed to an exhausted sleep, still nestled up against Gibbs. Looking over at the others in the room Gibbs could see the emotions he had felt, having read the yellow pages, reflected in their faces, it made it easier that they knew and it also gave Gibbs a reason to call it a night for the team, so he decided it was time to put things in motion.

"Ducky, do you think Palmer and Breena would mind sitting with Tim in the morning, from about seven, I think I'd like it if you were in on the meeting with Vance, besides I need Tony and Ziva for other things"

"Of course not Jethro, I'll call them immediately" Ducky said making a move to leave the room

"Boss?"

"Gibbs?"

"Tony, Ziva meet me at the yard just before 0800 hour I'll tell you what I need you to do then, for now go home get some rest, besides Agent Balboa and O'Neill should have all the paper work wrapped up by the morning."

Noting the dismissal both Tony and Ziva took one last glimpse at Tim before heading out, just as Doctor Mallard popped his head back round the door

"All arranged Jethro, they'll be here in the morning"

"Thanks Ducky"

**- NCIS -**

Gibbs arrived at the yard in reflective mood, Tim had slepted little, the slumber he had succumbed too after the emotional storm only lasted a couple of hours, so they had talked, Gibbs constantly encouraging and coaxing information out of Tim about more of the incidents were Abby had either let Tim take responsibility for the mistakes she had made or taken the credit for work Tim had actually done, because she had used her knowledge of his past against him. Although this infuriated him, Gibbs made sure that he kept his voice calm and reassuring.

They also talked over other things and these discussions showed that Tim more concerned for other people than himself. These concerns included his anxiety about the Slater family and how they would be cope, specifically Breena who was extremely close to her sister. Then there was the apprehension of how the other members of the teams would react to what was happening and what it meant for the team as a whole. Throughout all conversations Gibbs constantly reassured Tim that everything would be okay, that no one on the team would hold anything against him and that if anyone did, he would deal with it.

Tony, Ziva and Ducky were all waiting for Gibbs when he arrived at the bullpen, noting Vance was making his way down to the stairs, Gibbs decided to get his agent assigned the tasks he wanted before anyone else got a say in the matter.

"Tony go to my place, the spare room next to Kelly's has an en-suite shower room, we need to get it ready for Tim to stay until he's back on his feet, but it's currently full of boxes, get them moved up into the loft and give the room a good going over would you" Gibbs instructed as he hand over his keys as his other hand took hold of his wallet "Ziva will join you later on, and you'll need to organise the ordering of a bed along with a bedside cabinet and a desk. There's already a built in wardrobe, oh that might need cleaning out too, don't throw anything though"

"Ziva" Gibbs turned to her, whilst giving her his credit card "Go shopping get Tim some new clothes, you know the kind of stuff he likes, so stick with that, get a couple of suits too, including a black one for the funerals, I don't care about the cost. Oh and Tim's going to need general toiletries and stuff like that too."

As Gibbs finished a second credit card appeared on top of the one Gibbs had handed over, smiling softly Ducky made his own suggestion "You should visit the bookstore on Park Avenue, we all know how Tim bores easily and being stuck in hospital won't help"

Vance spoke up as he reached the group "Organise Tim a new computer, best you can get and mobile too, put them on the companies account. I don't expect to see either of you for the rest of the day. You're teams off rotation for the next week at least, that will enable you all to spend time with Tim whilst he's in hospital, so make the most of it"

Recognising the dismal both agents just nodded their heads in understanding before exiting the bullpen via the elevator.

"Dr Mallard, Gibbs I suggest we move this up stairs" Vance stated, as soon as Tony and Ziva made the move to leave, turning as he went to make his way back up to stairs leading to his office.

**- NCIS -**

Arriving in his office Vance gestured for Gibbs and Ducky to take the seats in front of his desk as he moved round to take his own whilst enquiring "How's McGee this morning?"

"As good as can be expected, Dr Pitt stop in just before I left he's changed the dressing on Tim's back and his left arm is now in a loose sling as the swelling from the dislocation has significantly reduced" Gibbs responded

"Okay that's the physical over with what about the rest"

"We talked" Gibbs responded simply

"Jethro" Ducky voice was filled with concerned

"Look he knows that I don't hold him responsible for any of this, he is however concerned about things" Gibbs explained as he pointedly looked towards Vance "Like the consequence's he thinks he's facing"

"Nothing severe, there will have to be a notation on his file - but this will come with a recommendation and as long as that is actioned the notation will be removed" Vance stated cryptically

"Like?" Gibbs dug

"McGee is going places, he's a good agent, he'll move up the ranks and have a good career, but after what I've seen and found out this week he needs to be able to say no and assert his non-federal agent authority, as much as his federal one, more confidently. Now I know I've witness him gain confidence since I've been here, but he needs more so I am recommending he attends some courses, which I will personally oversee, that way I can ensure that the recommendation will happen and the notation will be removed"

"Good, just keep me in the loop will you, Leon?" Gibbs said satisfied with Vance approach and was happy to receive a nod from Vance indicating that he will do as requested. Ducky also seem satisfied that Tim really wasn't being punished so he turned to another more delicate matter, not yet wanting to bring up the metaphorical 'invisible white elephant' that was most definitely in the room with the three men.

"Jethro did Tim mention the funerals?" Ducky queried

"He mentioned Kirsten's, but not Sarah's" Gibbs sighed as he thought back over that particular emotional conversation

"What did he say?" Vance asked puzzled by the concerned he saw edged in Gibbs face

"He considers he doesn't have the right to attend Kirsten funeral, as he firmly believes that her death is his fault" Gibbs explained "I spoke with Breena regarding that fact when she arrived this morning and she was adamant that Tim would be attending, so I think that will at least be sorted out today. As for Sarah, I have a feeling it just a case of denial – Tim can't face the thought of arranging his only sister's funeral"

"Oh Timothy" Ducky sadly shook his head, Vance however reached a decision regarding the matter fairly quickly as it was already something he had been giving thought to.

"Well in that case, we'll make the arrangements for him, something simple - I know Tim is one for making a show of things, I get Pamela looking into it as soon as this meeting over and I'm sure Jackie will want to get involved"

"That's good of you Leon" Gibbs responded relieved at what it meant for his youngest agent/son

"It's nothing" Vance dismissed "Jackie's always liked the kid since he came round and helped Jared with his maths"

"What about his apartment – you manage to talk with his landlord yet Leon?" Gibbs questioned

"He's accepted that what happened really wasn't Tim fault, however he feels it unwise to take Tim back on as a tenant now he's realised just how dangerous being a federal agent is" Vance stated sadly

"So I guess that leaves Abby" Gibbs stated finally biting the bullet, not failing to notice the immediate change in attitude of the other two men, so he decided to make things easier on the Director by telling him that he'd already informed Abby that he would back any decision he made.

"Well that's good Gibbs, because there's going to be changes to the way we handle the forensic side of things from now on"

**- NCIS -**

Tony arrived at Gibbs house and quickly located the cleaning items, he knew he was going to need, whilst he waited for the kettle to boil so he could grab himself a drink.

Coffee made and cleaning gear in a bucket in his other hand, he made his way to the room Gibb's had mentioned, opened the door sighed. The room was floor to ceiling full of boxes and there was barely any room to manoeuvre into the room, yet alone anything thing else.

"Man the things I do for my Probie!" he smirked to himself

**- NCIS -**

Ziva had been happily strolling around the men's department of her favourite shopping outlet, which just happened to be one of the oldest shops going in Washington. Ziva didn't care about getting funny looks from the men that were browsing there, as she entered item after item into the shopping trolley, that was already well on its way to being half full, when a set of picture frames caught her attention.

Pausing the shopping spree momentarily Ziva took a moment to look at them, within the frames where photographs of the store through the decades, a realisation dawned on Ziva that, Tim had lost a lot more than just everyday items in the fire, he had lost history and memento's that may never be able to be replaced.

**- NCIS -**

"I believe it's time to mix things up a bit when it come to the forensics' department so the main change is that from now on no team will be given a specific forensic scientist to work all their cases, I have spoken with Hetty in LA and the system I'm going to implement works extremely well with them. So Lisa Carson is going to transfer here as the new Head of Department for Forensics"

"As each case comes in Lisa will allocated the scientist best suited to the case's requirements and the work load that is already being undertaken. Now as far a Miss Sciuto is concerned she will no longer hold the position of top forensic scientist – that will go to either Becket or Donaldson, but that decision will be made by myself and Lisa Carson once she has settled in. There will be change round in Labs as well, again this will be sorted out once Lisa decides on the new rankings of the remaining forensic scientist."

"Back to Miss Sciuto, she will no longer work on cases alone and will be supervised at all times until proving that she is able to cope correctly with the work load she is assigned. I will be interviewing applicants in the next couple of weeks whilst Miss Sciuto is serving her eight week suspension, of which six weeks are without pay whilst the other two will be taken out of her holiday entitlement"

"And one final thing, from now on Miss Sciuto will be expected to adhere to company policy at all times, including dress code, she will no longer be allowed any of her luxuries like her stereo."

Gibbs just nodded he had to admit the Director could be right, maybe it was time to mix things up, and Vance was definitely mixing things up, however knowing Abby the way he did, he had only one question when Vance finished talking "What if Abby doesn't like the changes?"

"Then she will be free to work her notice, I will however, not give her a reference of commendation and if asked I will inform any perspective employer the truth" Vance stated plainly

"Very well, one more question" Gibbs responded "May I just ask who is informing Miss Sciuto of these changes?"

"HR is writing a to her as we speak, informing her of the length of her suspension, as I was unable to do so the other day, the letter will also inform her that there will be changes but that these will be explained upon her return. She will however be reminded of the official dress code for internal staff and that she is expected to adhere to it from now on. Don't get me wrong Gibbs she will be read the riot act again upon her return"

"Now I suggest you both take a well-deserved break, I meant what I said to Tony and Ziva so I'll say the same to you, I don't expect to see you here for the rest of the day, now go"

Before leaving the Directors office however Gibbs add a couple of stipulations of his own that he wanted added into the letter being sent and included within the new regime for the forensics department, after that was done and having gotten Vance nod of approval on the amendments both Gibbs and Ducky left the Directors office without a word being said.

**- NCIS -**

Tony threw the wet cloth, he'd used to clean the window into the bucket when he heard a car pulling up outside, taking a look he recognised Ziva car instantly and made his way down stairs and outside

"Hey Ziva, how was the shopping trip, wow!" Tony stated as saw the contents of Ziva's trunk as she opened it

"I would say - successful" Ziva smiled

"I should say so" Tony replied as he started rummaging through the bags "Probie's going to be set for life with this little lot" Tony continued just as his eyes fell on a photo album and a number of frames, he turned and looked at Ziva questioningly "Err no offense but I think Gibbs only wanted you to get the basics for McGoo"

Ziva just smiled as she answered "Oh Gibbs didn't pay for those, I did" receiving a puzzled look from Tony she explained her reasoning "Whilst I was at the mall I realised just how much McGee has lost, especially when I saw photographs in frames showing the changes that had taken place in the store over the years. It got me thinking"

"Yeah but Ziva a photo album and frames?"

"I made a few calls, Tobias is going to send us any pictures of Tim and Sarah in their early years, and hopefully their mom too, from the Admirals house before everything is auctioned off to go to the state. Mr Langston is looking out ones from their stay with him, Sarah's university friends are going to get some more recent ones together for us and Breena going to sort out some of Kirsten's most recent photo's, I believe from Jimmy that they had a professional photograph taken at some award ceremony they attended together so Jimmy's looking into getting a copy of that also"

"Yeah? You really have been busy haven't you?"

"And you?" Ziva questioned

"Clear out the boxes, wiped down the down the skirting-boards, cleaned the en-suite shower room and the windows. Just need to organise the furniture" Tony grinned like a cheshire cat as an idea started to form about what he could do that would be just as appropriate for his probie

"Good, that means you can help me unload" Ziva smiled

"In a minute right now I have some calls to make" Tony stated as he pulled out his phone and started dialling.


	25. Chapter 25 Exchanging Envelopes

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 25 Exchanging Envelopes

Tim sat patiently on the edge of his bed, waiting, it had been just week since the altercation with Abby and now he was finally being discharged from hospital, without a clue as to where he was going to stay. During the past week, he'd had very little time where he had been alone, one of the team members seem to be with him constantly – with the exception of Abby of course – however every time he brought that subject or where he was supposed to live up with any of them, all he got was knowing smiles

Now here he was none the wiser, which didn't sit well, what with the fact that Kirsty funeral was happening the next day and Sarah's the following day (Friday).

"Morning Probie you ready to go?" Tony asked from just inside the door way

"Yes – does this mean I'm staying with you?"

"Nope, this means your rides here" Tony playfully teased, as he picked up the small bag of Tim's things, holding mostly toiletries but a couple of books too.

"Tony!" Tim exasperated

"Let's just get you to the car before Ziva sends in a search party"

"Ziva's here?" Tim queried as he stood up gingerly on the crutches he now had.

"Yep and you know how she hates waiting" Tony said as they moved out the room and along the corridor towards the entrance

Soon they were outside and nearing an obviously borrowed works Sedan, where Ziva was waiting with the front passenger door open for Tim. As soon as Tim got there, he received a kiss on the cheek before she stated "No questions" Tim threw here a puzzled look, before carefully lowering himself in.

**- NCIS -**

Thirty minutes later and they were pulling up outside of Gibbs house

"No, no way" Tim stated shaking his head, as he realised what this meant

"Yeah – like to see you tell the boss man that" Tony stated with a grin as Gibbs appeared at the front door standing there for a moment, taking in Tim's shocked expression, before he approached the car

"Okay out you get – carefully now" Gibbs instructed lightly as he opened the door, Tim hesitate for a brief moment, before climbing out

"Boss….." Tim started but Gibbs cut him off, indicating Tim to go inside

"You're staying – no arguments Tim"

Tim looked for support to Tony and Ziva only to realise that they were incomplete agreement with Gibbs, so shaking his head he turned and made his way slowly up the path, noticing Ducky was now waiting just inside the door.

"We're you all in on this?" he questioned, hoping someone might actually answer

"Yes, McGee, this is for the best" Ziva state honestly, coming up behind him.

"Second door on the left, Timothy" Ducky said as Tim made it to the front door, nodding at the word, Tim concentrated on getting to the room Ducky had instructed him to go to, coming to an abrupt halt as he got to the door, completely shocked at what he saw in front of him.

The room had the usual furniture, but it wasn't just the standard basic run of the mill kind of stuff, this furniture spoke quality, in addition there was a nice looking seat in the window area, with it's very on footstall, nearby was a shelf unit already half filled with books, at the end of the bed was an ottoman and in one corner there was something covered with a bed sheet.

Turning his head back round all he saw was five people grinning at him, "Guys…." He start but found himself lost for words, Tony walked up to Tim and helped pursued his to go further into the room and onto the chair.

"Come on, off those feet, doctor said only a few minutes at a time remember?" Tony admonished lightly smiling the whole time

Once Tim was on the chair and the rest of the group where in the room with him, Gibbs indicated that Ducky should do the talking, knowing his colleague wasn't much for talking Ducky gladly stepped up to the task

"Well Timothy, we decided you needed to concentrate on you, so between us we arrange a few things to help you out until your back on your feet, Mr Palmer if you would"

The moment the request was made Jimmy who was nearest the wardrobe turned and opened the doors revealing a wardrobe that was full of clothes

"Guys…..this is too much" Tim stated still in shock

Gibbs sat down on the edge of the window sill besides Tim slipping an arm round his shoulder "Your family Tim, we may have not been good at showing you that before, but we're showing you now and no it's not too much, you deserve so much more than you realise"

Looking at Gibbs, Tim could tell his boss meant every word he said but it still took him by surprise.

"Haven't got to the best bits yet Probie" Tony stated grinning so much Tim could tell he was excited

"Just get on with it DiNozzo, Tim needs to take his med shortly, and he needs to eat first"

Tony nodded quickly before pulling the bed sheet off what it had been hiding to reveal a television and the latest version of the games box Tim owned, all contained on a stand, "Games and accessory, all neatly stored in the ottoman" Tony informed gleefully

"You guys didn't need to do all this" Tim said indicating around the room

"We wanted to McGee" Ziva qualified as she slid a large box, nicely gift wrapped with a large ribbon bow, onto his lap before giving him a quick peck on the check. Puzzled Tim took a moment to look at Ziva before he turned his attention to the gift in front of him, shaking his head lightly whilst smiling at the antics his friends had been up to whilst he was in hospital. When the ribbon gave way Tim carefully lifted the lid and was stunned by what he saw.

Sitting in a large and beautifully embossed frame was the photograph, taken not even three weeks before, of Kirsty and Sarah with Tim in the middle, all dressed up to the nines for the award ceremony they had attended. Just underneath the large photo frame were four matching, smaller frames each holding an important photographs, including one of Kate. Then at the bottom of the box was a large album full of photos. Looking at the pictures everything and everyone around him slipped away as Tim momentarily lost himself in the happy memories, before he snapped himself back to reality

"Thank you" he whispered, before looking up at Ziva first and then looking round the rest of the group who all just gave him knowing smiles, he'd instinctively knew it was Ziva's idea, but that she had had help getting it together

"You're welcome, my brother" Ziva replied "Now I going to arrange lunch"

**- NCIS -**

Thirty minutes later they were all sat at Gibbs dining table enjoying the lunch Ziva had put together.

"So what going on at work then?" Tim asked genuinely curious, after the incident at the hospital all talk of work had ceased and no one would even discuss Abby

"Not much, we're just working through cold cases at the moment, due to the fact you're out of action" Tony grumble

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs growled

"Not that, that's your fault - of course it isn't, it's just not the same without you there" Tony clarified quickly

"Well I be back in on Monday, Tony, besides I think I'd rather work cold case files than attended Kirsty funeral tomorrow and Sarah's on Friday" Tim stated honestly

Realising that the idea of attending the funerals still wasn't sitting well with his Probie, Tony move to reassure is friend "I know Tim, but you do realise that we're going to be there with you right?"

"Tony you…."

"Yeah we do and it's what family does, support each other" Tony informed him

"Has anyone ever told Abby that?" Tim queried

"You tried telling Abby anything?" Tony retorted smirking

"Good point" Tim said with a smile on his face

"Okay enough you two" Gibbs ordered lightly putting a stop to the friendly banter "Tim take your meds"

Acknowledging the instruction Tim grabbed the tablets and water off the table "You said you'd tell me once I was out of hospital, and I'm out of hospital, so are you going to tell me what's going on?" shoving his medication in his mouth without taking his eyes away from Gibbs.

Gibbs sighed, he had known the question was coming, he had purposefully avoided it from all his agents for a week, but he also knew he couldn't keep putting it off forever and with Tim due back at work more quickly than he'd been expecting, even if it was just riding a desk, for the foreseeable future, there was no putting of the discussion any longer.

"Fine, Abby is currently one week into serving an eight week suspension" Gibbs started

"What!" Tim exclaimed shocked, if Abby's suspension was that harsh, he didn't want to think what his would be when he saw Vance on Monday.

"Calm down Timothy" Ducky soothed "Everything Abby has done, she has brought on herself. If truth be told she's very lucky not to have lost her job entirely"

"Ducky right, Tim" Gibbs stated evenly, he had known the lad would be upset and worried, but he wanted to get the discussion of Abby over with before letting Tim know about what Vance wanted from him, however even though Gibbs recognised that Tim was expecting to be punished as much, if not more severely, he decided to push on. "Tim, Abby passed off evidence as her own work, in a court of law multiple times and that is the only we have kept this quiet and let her keep a job NCIS, though not the one she's use to holding, because if this was ever got out NCIS would be a laughing stock for years, not to mention the can of worms it would open up. The calls of mistrial would be ridiculous"

"But….."

"No, no buts, anyway you haven't heard all of it yet, so just listen to me for a minute, will you?" Gibbs asked before he continued by telling the group what had been discussed with Vance explaining that Abby had effectively been demoted to Junior Forensic Science Assistant, who would be supervised at all time, along with the new way things were going to work with that department. Then it was time to explain the stipulations he had requested.

"There is one exception to that, Abby will never be given one of our cases to handle, she is not welcome in the bullpen at any time unless she is escorted and finally she is not to have contact with anyone on this team until she has proven that she can be trusted again, am I making myself clear?"

"Yes Boss" and "Yes Gibbs" were coursed simultaneously by Tony and Ziva, but Tim remain silent

"Tim" Gibbs pushed

"Yes boss" Tim agreed somewhat reluctantly, his nerves getting the better of him. Gibbs stood and walked round the table to kneeling down next to where Tim sat looking at the floor

"Has she contacted you Tim?" Gibbs queried

Sighing Tim dug into his back pocket and pulled out a folded, but unopened white envelope "Only if you count this, it arrived this morning, really didn't feel much like opening once I saw the handwriting"

Gibbs ducked his head down for a moment, so that Tim couldn't see the anger that welled within him, once it passed, he looked back up and took the offered envelope, stuffing it into his inner jacket pocket.

"I'll deal with that later Tim and you're not going to read it until I know what it says, now I know your worried about what's coming your way and I'm going to put a stop to it right now, read this it will explain everything" Gibbs said simply as he had Tim a light grey envelope, which the agency used.

Looking at Gibbs completely puzzled, Tim nearly panic as he thought he was being hand his notice of termination, before he received a gentle tap on the back of his head "No Tim, that's not what's going on here, just read it"

**- NCIS -**

Five minutes later, Tim looked up from his letter completely surprised by the contents, whilst he'd been reading the others had cleared the table and poured fresh coffees

"Boss?" Tim question

"Not what you were expecting huh?"

"No….No definitely not" Tim replied

"Good, see any problems with what's required?"

"No, no problems"

"Good, because I spoke to Vance this morning and depending on how you do with that little lot, you're going to be placed on the advanced courses immediately after, making you even more indispensable, and getting you well on your way to being the great team leader you are going to be one day" Gibbs informed smiling at the completely shocked expression on his youngest agents face.


	26. Chapter 26 Sarsty

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 26 Sarsty

"Were are you?" Gibbs question the moment the phone was answered, he was currently in the basement, with Ducky, making the call, whilst Tony and Palmer kept Tim distracted by playing video games with him. Ziva had gone off to collect the last part of the gifts they had for Tim, yet the director, who'd promised to be there, was still nowhere to be seen

"_Got held up, just leaving now_" Vance replied

"Good because I don't like doing your dirty work, alone!"

"_I take it from that, Tim didn't react well_"

"For your information he reacted just fine, once he realised I wasn't giving him his damn termination letter!"

"_Crap! Should have thought about that…..Sorry Gibbs_"

"Yeah well you decided it was best if we told him about Abby first and that got the kid all stressed, for no reason, so just hurry up will you, because at this rate the final surprise will be here before you, Oh and after the presents you and I need to talk"

"_Alright! I'll be there in twenty_"

"Make it fifteen" Gibbs stated as he shut his phone looking at Ducky who was shaking his head in amusement

**NCIS**

"Hey not fair McGee" Tony protested as Tim out manoeuvred him to win the latest game

"Oh come on Tony, he won fair and square" Palmer retorted as Gibbs and Ducky entered what was now officially Tim's room, from the lounge, were they had moved to after the phone call, after hearing the directors car pull in the driveway

"Life not fair, DiNozzo, live with it" Gibbs said as he laughed at his boys antics

"Everything alright boss?" Tim queried nervously, he was sure something was going on but he could quite put his finger on it.

"Everything's just fine Timothy – you just worry too much" Replied Ducky as everyone heard the front door.

"In here Leon" Gibbs called out, moments later Leon Vance walked into the room holding two totally different sized boxes and a small bag

"Nice you could finally make it Director" Gibbs stated sarcastically

"Like I already told you, Gibbs I got held up – the agency doesn't run itself you know" Vance replied before turning his attention to Tim "These are for you, Agent McGee"

"Director?"

"Well your mobile was completed busted up and your computers unsalvageable, so the agency's replaced them for you. I know you have a habit of working from home, even on your days off, so we got you the best laptop we could get, but it's probably not up to the spec your use too, but I am assured it will do whilst you're getting back on your feet"

"Thank you sir" Tim said as he looked over the boxes

"Now in here is your badge" Vance continued as he pointed to the bag which he gave to Gibbs "Luckily it wasn't damaged when it was tossed from the moving van, but your gun wasn't so lucky – damn thing won't even fire, so there's also a new gun in there, which means you'll need to do a re-qualification, which I'm sure you'll pass with flying colours. However I realise that won't be until you're cleared from desk duty, so Gibbs can keep this in his safe until then"

"I'm back" Ziva's voice sang out at the very moment Vance stopped talking

"Great! The final surprise is here!" Tony stated with glee

"What! No you guys…" Tim started

"Trust me Probie, You're going to love it" Tony informed him as Ziva walked in the door

Tim immediately noticed that Ziva was holding a small, black and tan, long haired Miniature Dachshund.

"Tim say hello to Sarsty" Ziva said with a smile

"Sarsty?" Vance questioned

"The name's made up from parts of both Sarah's and Kirsty's names Leon" Gibbs informed

"Guy how'd you find out about this?" Tim questioned

"Err, really easy Tim" Palmer said sarcastically "Sisters tend to talk you know"

"But we hadn't finalized anything" Tim responded

"Yeah well now you have" Tony said with a grin

"The owner assured me, he is the one you and Kirsty selected when you visited, McGee" Ziva informed as she made her way round the room towards Tim

"I do have a question though" Tony stated

"And what would that be?" Tim asked

"I remember you saying you wanted a smaller dog at some point, something about being easier to handle, but why a Miniature Dachshund?"

"Because that's what our grandparents had when we were young" Breena stated as she walked in the room carrying a bed for the dog and what was obviously supplies, Palmer immediately went to help her "Besides I remember Kirsty saying that Tim had told her, one of his neighbours had one when he was a kid and according to Kirsty, Sarah informed her that she remembered Tim playing happily with it"

"But…."Tim started as Ziva finished walking up to him and placed the puppy on his lap, almost immediately Tim started stroking it absentmindedly

"No McGee, this was your choice, unlike Jethro, we just made it happen" Ziva stated factually, before giving him a kiss on the cheek

Tim looked at the young puppy as it whimpered happily in his lap, before it started licking Tim's fingers, making Tim laugh, which the others enjoyed as they hadn't heard him do that since the start of the of this unfortunate episode.

"Are you alright with this Boss?" Tim queried

"Wouldn't have approved it if I wasn't, besides the little fella has a nice big yard to play in all day long" Gibb replied with a smile, as he too joining in stroking the newest family member "Why don't you all go outside and play with Sarsty for a while, besides I sure Tim could do with some fresh air" as he gave a discreet nod to the Director and Ducky

"What a good idea Jethro" Ducky said with a smile

**NCIS**

"Okay so what did you want to talk about?" Vance queried the moment the younger members of the group where out of earshot.

"This" Gibbs stated simply as he held up the still unopened envelope Tim had given him, putting it on the counter as he turned to make coffee

"That looks distinctly like Miss Sciuto's handwriting" Vance commented

"It is" Gibbs replied just as the door to the back yard opened and Ziva walked in

"Ziva?" Gibbs question as she looked somewhat pensive

"You're discussing Abby, yes?" Ziva queried, noting the envelope on the counter. When none of the men answer her, she pulled out an envelope from her back pocket and placed it alongside Tim's envelope, if was a perfect much to Tim's and was addressed to Gibbs

"It was outside when I return" Ziva stated simply before she turned and walked back out into the yard

"Well this is a turn of events" Ducky stated

"Well I guess we should open them" Vance responded reaching for Tim's letter, believing Gibbs would immediately open his

"One at a time" Gibbs stated, he was more interested in what Abby had to say in her letter to Tim than what she said in the one to him, as he watched Vance open the envelope.

In complete silence Vance read the letter before handing it over with saying anything, but he really didn't need to, the look on his face said it all. Gibbs took the letter read it and then silently handed it over to Ducky, when Ducky finished reading the letter he simply looked up at the others

"She's got some nerve" Vance stated

"Oh you can say that again" Gibbs replied in agreement, the anger evident in his voice, he had been reading the letter address to him whilst Ducky read Tim's, as he passed his letter to Vance. Again nothing more was said until they had all finished reading the second letter

"Honestly suing Tim for damages and threatening to have him arrested over Jethro's death – I really think the girls lost it" Vance commented shaking his head

"She's what?!" Tim stated with disbelief for the doorway, none of the older men had heard open, with Tony and Ziva standing right behind him

"This is some sort of joke – yes?" Ziva questioned

"Timothy the whole things a load of nonsense anyone can see that" Ducky reassure whilst Gibbs moved around and took hold of Tim, as he and Tony helped him to the nearest chair

"It will be over, before it can even start Tim, I promise you – I'll have our agencies legal department take care of it first thing in the morning" Vance said completely dismissively

"I've already told you this, but I'm going to say it again, none of this is your fault, do you hear me McGee?" Gibbs told him in his best no nonsense boss voice

"Yes boss" Tim replied his voice very low

"Good" Gibbs stated simply "Why'd you come in Tim?"

"Oh lord look at the time" Ducky stated as he realised the reason "I'll get your tablets for you Timothy"

"So what happens now, I mean the stipulation was that Abby wasn't to make contact with any of us" Tony queried

"We make sure that, Abby understands what no contact actually means, issue a warning that if she attempts to make contact again, we'll enforce the restraining order that's already drawn up" Vance informs

"Restraining order, boss really?" Tony said in disbelief looking at Gibbs

"If that's what it takes, the stipulation wasn't just about Tim, it was for the enter team and if I got a letter…." Gibbs let his sentence trail off, knowing full well that the others knew what he was telling them to expect to have a letter waiting for them when they got home

"And your letter was?" Ziva queried

"Nothing for any of you to concern yourself with" Gibb stated with a tone that told them that they weren't going to be told, just as Tim yawned, indicating his medicine was taking effect

"That's our cue to leave" Ducky said with a knowing smile looking at the others "Tony help me get Tim comfortable, would you"

"Of course Ducky" Tony replied with a smile. Hugs and kisses were exchanged all round, well with the exception of a handshake with the director, before Tim was herded off to his room. Once the others had left Gibbs stood in the door way and watched his youngest agent fall to sleep.

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Only a couple of chapters left to go now :o)


	27. Chapter 27 Funerals & A Transfer

Chapter 27 Funerals & A Transfer

It was late afternoon/early evening and Gibbs stood leaning against the door frame of Tim bedroom, watching his youngest agent/son sleep, even though Tim had his back to the door, Gibbs could see Sarsty snuggled up on the bed alongside him, breaking the house rule, due to the mirror on the wardrobe door. Sighing Gibbs thought back over the last twenty four hours starting with the previous day as the team supported Tim through Kirsty's funeral

***Flashback***

They entered the church in the early afternoon, letting Tim take the lead after all they were there to support him anyway he needed them too. They all knew the moment when Tim spotted the casket as he came to an abrupt stop without any warning and just stood starring at it from the back of the church's seating area

"Hey Tim let's take a seat" Gibbs quietly suggested as he put a hand on his shoulder whilst indicating to the back row, which is where Tim had said he wanted to sit

"Timothy McGee! If you think for one moment I'm going to let you sit back there, you are very much mistaken young man!" Mrs Slater voice carried as she came down the aisle towards the group, before taking him into an awkward embrace due to the crutches. Breena had followed in her mother's wake, taking hold of Jimmy and leading him down the front ignoring his protests about wanting to support Tim.

"Now let me look at you" Mrs Slater continued as she placed her hands on the side of his face "Oh this will not do Timothy, you really haven't been looking after yourself at all, come on your with us"

"Oh, no I…."

"Nonsense, you were/are Kirsty's fiancée so your family" Mrs Slater informed in a tone that brokered no argument as she lead Tim down to the front row, noticing him looking worriedly back to his team, who were watching in a mixture of amusement

"The team will be just behind us don't worry" Mrs Slater said as she indicated to Gibbs the row right behind the main families seating area which was still free.

Once at the front of the church Tim was made to sit between Breena and her mother with Palmer and Mr Slater sitting on the other side of their partners. The service itself was based on all the hymns and readings Kirsty enjoyed, with multiple speeches bring both tears and laughter, but all mentioned the love she had found in Tim.

Afterwards at the cemetery Tim had taken a moment to place the ring box, holding the engagement ring he'd brought, on top of the casket before it was lowered into the ground. The whole time Gibbs had stood no more than a couple of feet away ready to support his obviously devastated agent, what Gibbs heard Tim say broke his heart

"I'm so Sorry Kirsty" Tim said softly "You're taking my heart with you, there will never by anyone else Kirsty, never"

The whole thing became too much for Tim to bear and he collapsed without warning as Gibbs and Tony scrambled to break his fall, before escorting him back to a seating area nearby whilst the rest of the mourning party stayed for the last pray.

Getting Tim up the next morning for Sarah's funeral had proven quite a challenge, it took Gibbs, Ducky and Tony working together to persuade Tim that he could cope with the morning's arrangements. In the end it was the promise that he didn't have to say anything that got Tim moving.

Where Kirsty's funeral had been light hearted, Sarah's funeral was a much more sombre affair with a lot fewer people in attendance. Mainly it was just the team and a handful of Sarah's university friends, though both Agent O'Neill's and Balboa's teams had attended along with Pam, Vance and his wife Jackie. Unfortunately both Penny and Billy Goat had been unable to attend for various reasons.

As promised the whole event was kept low key, which added to the soberness of the occasion. At the end of the service the team had returned to Gibbs house and Tim had immediately excused himself, taking himself off to what was now his room. Unlike Kirsty, Sarah had been cremated and her ashes would be scattered at a later date, for now Gibbs had put them somewhere safely out of the way to avoid giving Tim a constant reminder of what he had lost.

***End Flashback***

Feeling someone's presence next to him Gibbs turned slightly to see who was there just as Ducky spoke softly

"Jethro"

"I'm worried Duck" Gibbs confessed in a sigh "These last two days he's hardly said or eaten anything"

"It is completely normal after events like this for someone to be somewhat despondent Jethro" Ducky reasoned, whilst keeping his voice low "Even you have to admit both yesterday and this morning where very emotionally draining"

"I know Duck, but there's got to be something that we can do"

"Actually, I hope you don't mind but I've taken a couple of liberties as far as that very fact is concerned" Ducky admitted with an air of mystery

"Oh?" Gibbs questioned

"Jackson called the morning Timothy came out of hospital, whilst you were out, I brought him up-to-date with everything that's been going on and he made a suggestion which I ran past Vance on Tim's behalf"

"And?"

"Tim needs to get away for a while, even if it's just for a few days, a change of scenery will do him a world of good, and he still has plenty of leave owed him, so Vance was more than happy to sign him off for the next week whilst Jackson is willing to have Tim for the week, all we just need to do is get him there"

"We - as in me" Gibbs retorted

"Well neither of you have taken a break in a long time Jethro, and I think it will do you both good in the long run"

"Yeah, you're probably right" Gibbs agreed

"Dinner is ready" Ziva informed from behind to which both men acknowledge with a nod, before Gibbs moved into the room

"Tim…Tim dinner's ready" Gibbs informed softly as he place his hand on Tim's shoulder

"Not hungry" Came the sullen reply

"Yeah? You want to be the one to tell Ziva that after she's prepared your favourite?" Gibbs asked playfully as with his free hand he lifted Sarsty off the bed as Tim turned onto his back and stretched

"Guess not" Tim replied in a defeated tone as he sat up

"Good now come on got something to tell yeah"

**NCIS**

"Really we're going to Jackson's?" Tim question in disbelief. They had finished the main part of dinner and Ziva, along with Tony was clearing away before bring the dessert to the table, whilst Gibbs had been informing Tim of his father's offer

"If you want too, I think it would do you some good to get away for a while" Gibbs replied

"What about us?" Tony queried playfully

"You get to work the backlog of cold cases" Vance stated as he walked back into the room having left for a phone call

"Great" Tony muttered as he put the dessert on the table

"Apple pie, Tim?" Ziva asked knowing full well that it was highly unlikely the Tim would turn it down considering it was his favourite

"Ummm, please, are you sure Jackson doesn't mind?" Tim queried

"We're sure Timothy" Ducky informed

"Okay – oh what about Sarsty?" Tim asked

"We'll take him with us" Gibbs replied with ease, smiling because he now complete agreed with Ducky that it this was a good idea as Tim's mood had picked up a little on the news

**NCIS**

Saturday morning found Gibbs with Ducky and Vance discussing the issue of Abby, whilst Tony and Ziva kept Tim company, whilst he packed for the journey. All the members of the team had received letters over the past couple of days, bud had wisely handed them over without opening them, so now the three older men waited in Vance's office for a phone call from Lawrence from NCIS's legal department, as even though it was Saturday a judge had agreed to see him.

Right now though Gibbs was on his mobile making final arrangements with his father for his and Tim's trip

"You sure about this dad, what about the dog, don't want to put you out" Gibbs queried, making both Vance and Ducky chuckle as it hadn't been the first time Gibbs had asked either of those questions during the conversation

"_You need to ask? Get that boy down here"_ Jackson retorted

"Just remember Tim's not going to be up to much" Gibbs warned

"_Not like I'm expecting him to run a marathon or anything now is it?"_

"Alright should be there around dinner time, I'll let you know when we're getting close"

"_Looking forward to it"_

"See you later dad" Gibbs said before shutting down his phone and looking at Ducky

"Satisfied?"

"Very Jethro" Ducky replied evenly

"Okay, now that's all arranged, who'd you want to use to tell Miss Sciuto the news?" Vance asked as the conversation turned serious again

"Kort?" Gibbs joked with a smirk, knowing how much the two hated one another

"Hell, even I wouldn't wish that on the guy" Vance stated with laughter in his voice

"Well in that case don't we have some favours outstanding from Metro?" Gibbs queried

"I like you're thinking, let me make some calls" Vance replied just as his desk phone range

"Vance….yeah and? ….You sure? ….Okay good, anything else? ….What already? Not that I'm complaining or anything ….Nope that's good….No I'll take care of that….Good work Lawrence see you shortly"

"Well?" Gibbs and Ducky both asked at the same time

"All sorted" Vance stated shortly leaving them both hanging

"Really?" Ducky queried not completely convinced as though he thought things would go their way he hadn't wanted to get his hopes up

"Yep, judge signed off on the restraining order then took a look at the case Abby put together and the evidence our legal department gave him in Tim's defence and three it out" Vance smiled happily "Lawrence is going to bring up the papers as soon as he gets back. He's already arranged for everything to be specifically hand delivered by a friend of his from metro, who's coming with him so that saves us from pulling any favours. I just need to sign off on the transfer and the guy will take the whole lot to Miss Sciuto, then she will be on her way and out of our hair for good, almost makes me feel sorry for Hetty"

"I wouldn't worry too much about Hetty or anyone else in LA for that matter, they've all had dealings with Abby in the past and they are more than capable of handling her" Gibbs reminded

"Yes no one there will put up with any nonsense from Abigail" Ducky agreed before sadly adding "It's a shame really that it had to come to this"

"Well unfortunately not being able to get a strong enough candidate for the position of Abby's supervisor only left one other choice, after all Shepherd isn't one to take fools lightly and as I've already taken one member of Hetty's staff recently, she really wasn't prepared to give up another one"

"Yes well it's for the best" Ducky reasoned "The distance will help greatly"

"So will the restraining order" Gibbs stated with a hint of anger, before looking at his watch and rising from his chair "Time to get moving, you need us for anything else?"

"Not at all, enjoy your week off and get Tim to enjoy it too will you?" Vance responded

"I'll do my best" Gibbs replied

"I'm coming with you Jethro – won't harm to give Tim a quick check over before you head out" Ducky said

NCIS

One hour later saw Gibbs and Tony loading the car as Tim exited the house after Ducky's check over, Ziva who was waiting outside by the car gave him a hug and a kiss before helping to support him into the car.

"Right you two behave yourselves, I don't want to hear of any problem you hear me?" Gibbs said as he got into the drivers side, directly looking at Tony

"What me?" Tony mocked, getting a small smile from Tim which was exactly what he wanted

"Everything will be fine, Gibbs" Ziva reassured

"Jethro, you'll be late if you don't get moving" Duck reminded

"Fine, see you all next week" Gibbs replied as he gunned the engine and peeled out onto the road, just before he drove off he and Tim heard Tony's final comment which had both men laughing

"Really Ducky haven't you ever seen Gibbs drive?"

* * *

So what do you think - the end or another chapter - you decision


	28. Chapter 28 Contract & Starting to Heal

Okay Guys you win! :o) Two more chapters - but very short just to round things off - Enjoy!

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 28 Contract and Starting to Heal

Monday morning and Vance was playing catch up due to the number of reports he'd let slid in the last couple of weeks. He knew that he should enjoy the peace and quiet whilst it lasted as Lawrence's Metro friend was delivering the paper work to Abby Sciuto at some point. So half an hour later Vance was absorbed in reading when the door to his office suddenly swung open smashing forcefully against the comfortable chair that was alongside, as Abby Sciuto stormed in.

"What the….!" Vance started only to be cut off

"You can't do this!" Abby shouted in anger as she slammed her hand down on the front of his desk clutching paperwork, as a security officer came running in.

"I so sorry director" state the obviously out of breath man as he explained what happen "She slipped past when I was dealing with another visitor"

"That's alright Nixon I've been expecting her" Vance said whilst signalling for the man to stay where he was in the door way before turning his attention back to Abby and calmly asking "Exactly what is it you think I can't do Miss Sciuto?"

"This!" Abby shouted waving the paper

"And what is 'this'?" Vance asked as if he was ignorant of what the papers were about.

"You can't degrade my status and transfer me like this!" Abby spat, it wasn't all she was upset about but there was nothing more she could do regarding her precious Jethro thanks to some stupid Judge.

"Miss Sciuto, if I'm not mistaken - _**I am**_ the Director of this agency - so if I decide to transfer a member of staff it is my prerogative"

"On temporary basis not permanently!" Abby butted in

"As for the downgrading of your status you brought that on yourself" Vance continued, as if no interruption had taken place, keeping his voice even "Unfortunately the only space available for someone with your new found status is in LA and if you took a moment to read your contract and staff handbook you would know that any member of staff who has had a status change has to fit in with the current employment requirements of the agency"

"I don't believe you!"

"You may believe what you like Miss Sciuto, though I suggest you read pages fifty through to fifty five which will clarify it for you and if you want to stay working for NCIS then it will have to be in LA. I will warn you however, that if you decide to work your notice you won't find another opening available in any of the alphabetic soup as someone has let it be known you're not up to the task"

"And who would that be!?" Abby demand

"Me" Kort stated from just inside the doorway, were he had been for the last few moments, watching the altercation, making Abby turn around "And don't even bother Abby, your childish temper tantrums don't work on me, you asked to see me Director Vance"

"Yes actually I did, Nixon escort Miss Sciuto out will you" Vance requested

"We're not done!" Abby growled as she turned back to Vance, but the director had an ace up his sleeve that would end the conversation. He knew for a fact that Abby Sciuto hated not having disposable money at her finger tips so her suspension would soon be taking its toll on her financially.

"Look, I'll make you a deal, take the position in LA and your suspension will end immediately, reject it and I'll terminate your employment effective immediately" Vance stopped for a moment before he made it clear what he thought she should do "I'll give you 24hours to decide - please be so kind as to pass on my regards to Hetty when you get to LA" Vance stated dismissively

Glaring at the two men for a moment believing they would back down, Abby was surprised to find herself being completely ignored as Vance silently waved Kort to take a seat before getting up, turning his back to her and getting some glasses from the sideboard. Stomping her foot Abby turned and stormed from the office, when Vance turned back he had a smirk on his face and Kort gave him a knowing wink.

**NCIS**

"Hey dad" Gibb said as he saw his father enter the living room, just as he got off the phone. It was Friday already and he felt the week had gone fast but well with Tim finally relaxing and starting to get back to himself little by little.

"Jethro, who was on the phone and where Tim?" Jackson acknowledged, he'd just been out to check on things at the store.

"That was Vance the carrot and stick approach worked, Abby's gone to LA, so we don't have to worry about her being around when we get back and Tim's outside with Sarsty, he seems to be doing better, I was just going out to join him" Gibbs replied

"I'll come with you, just remember that these things take time, at least he's eating better than at the start of the week, so that's a good sign"

"Yeah, thanks to you"

"It was nothing just a little chat" Jackson said as they stepped out on to the rear porch

"Hey Tim" Gibbs greeted as he sat down next to him on the porch steps

"Oh hey" Tim replied seemingly being pulled out of deep thought, before he threw a ball for Sarsty

"How you doing son?" Jackson asked

"I'm good thanks sir" Tim replied automatically

"Are you ever going to call be Jack like I told you?" Jackson queried as he laughed, ruffling Tim's hair. The only response he got was the blush that swept across Tim's features so Gibbs decided to change the topic

"Heading back tomorrow Tim, you okay with that?" Gibbs asked

"Yeah boss, I mean it's going to be strange living with you but…" Tim started only to have Gibbs interrupt him reassuringly

"Only until you're back on your feet and even then there's no rush"

"Thanks – I mean it thank you, for everything" Tim replied with sincerity

"Not a problem son, now have you decided" Gibbs asked, over the last few days the three of them had been discussing different forms of exercise that would help Tim improve his leg strength once he'd got the all clear to start, of course

"Yes" Tim said a little cryptically

"And?" Gibbs nudged

"Karate" Tim informed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world

"Yeah?"

"Yeah - I mean it should help with the strength and then there's the added benefits" Tim reasoned

"Yes it will and yes the added benefits will help, not that you didn't defend yourself well in the first place" Gibbs replied knowing how Tim had felt about his handling of the abduction, not that he'd done anything wrong, however you try telling him that "but only after you get the all clear from Ducky and the physiotherapist"

"Now what about going out on a weekly basis, work permitting of course, with the rest of the team like they suggested?" Jackson asked, again it had been a topic the three of them had discussed after a group phone call, midweek with Tony, Ziva, Ducky and Palmer.

"I don't know about that, not just yet anyway, maybe in time" Tim stated a little sadly

"Okay just don't cut yourself off, life is for living Tim" Jackson reasoned

"Somehow I don't think the team will let him dad" Jethro stated knowingly

"Yeah – besides, Tony doesn't understand the word no" Tim said with a smirk on his face, which had both the older men laughing


	29. Chapter 29 Epilogue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _NCIS_ or its characters.

Chapter 29 Epilogue

_Eighteen Months later_

"So Tim, how was class last night" Tony queried, it was Friday afternoon after a long week and he was hoping to talk Tim into going out, they had managed to get Tim out more often over the last couple of months and as far as Tony was concerned it was going well

"It was good actually Tony" Tim replied with a slight smile

"Good - it was better than good" Callen stated, he was stopping over for a few days to catch up to Gibbs, and had joined Tim at his class for a sparring match, before going back to LA

"Yeah?" Tony stated

"Callen it wasn't…" Tim started to argue

"Callen's a black belt, Tim and you held your own, time to take the test" Gibbs informed the rest of the group as he round the corner into the bullpen with coffee's and tea's for all, a small tradition that had started a while back

"So we're we going tonight?" Cullen asked changing the subject and beating Tony to the punch on his question with a knowing smile and wink

"Mulgrew's" Ziva suggested innocently, they had been there last week and Tim finally had the courage to ask a young lady, they'd seen there several times, to dance

"Mulgrew's it is" Tony immediately agreed "You never know Tim tonight might be your lucky night!"

Thwack!

"Thanks boss" Tim smiled as Tony rubbed the back of his head, things were finally back on track, he'd recently moved into a small house just a couple of blocks away from Gibbs and had started to think about the future along with its possibilities for the first time in a long time.

* * *

There that's it the end of my first Fanfiction - I hope you all enjoyed the ride. Thank you for all your support and messages - I still can't believe you like it so much.

I will be back with another story some time, already got a few idea's, but am going to take a break for a while as I have another no computer project that requires my urgent attention.

Thanks again GBTA-Geek


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